The Aboriginal Got It! (AGI!) program is a cultural adaption of the mainstream state-wide program ‘Got It!’. ‘Got It!’ is an early intervention program for children with emerging mental health needs, including children with social, emotional, and behavioural concerns, as well as children with low mood, anxiety, and emotion dysregulation. An evaluation of the Got It! program in NSW suggested that while successful overall, Got It! had variable success in engaging with Aboriginal communities and families and the program did not promote cultural safety. In response, SWSLHD were contracted by the MoH to develop and pilot an Aboriginal Cultural Adaptation of the Got It! program.
The cultural adaptation was centred on engaging the local Aboriginal Community to decide how the program might be adapted to best service their Community. Aboriginal governance was established which embedded Community voices throughout the program design and implementation, including as members of a multi- stakeholder steering committee. The co-design of AGI! with the Community enabled the families to have control over how therapeutic services were delivered and accessed.
Through this engagement, co-design and governance, the AGI! program was established. AGI! integrates Aboriginal ways of being and knowing through collaborating with community elders and knowledge holders to combine cultural healing with clinical practices. An evaluation of the AGI! found that the cultural adaption of the program reflected localised need and had significant positive impacts on the emotional regulation of children, parenting practices, and responses of school staff to emotion-based behaviours. The SWSLHD team developed an Aboriginal cultural adaption toolkit that uses AGI! as evidence and an example to NSW Health services and Communities on how programs can be culturally adapted.
Program, ward and service management Principle 1
