Guest Editorial
Towards a 21st Century Form of Practice in Rural Communities
Daniela Stehlik
Director, Alcoa Research Centre for Stronger Communities, Curtin University, WA
PP: 208 - 209
Article Text
In 1994 I moved from Perth to regional Queensland. The timing coincided with one of the most severe droughts in Australian history. I arrived in sub-tropical Queensland at a time when communities were already doing it tough after three years of drought; together, we then lived through another three years and experienced the consequences in diminution of services; pulling back of government funding; out migration of population and increases in stress and illness, including mental illness.
This edition of Rural Society had its genesis at that time. Over the past decade I have been both observer and participant in a paradigm shift in the way in which human services are delivered in the bush. Rural Society is a journal that prides itself in its documentation of life outside of Australian cities. It seems important for the Journal to both recognise and celebrate the changes we are experiencing and perhaps begin to document what we may name as ‘new 21st century forms of practice'.
Such changes are not only as a result of drought or more accurately, climate change. They can also be linked to a self-reliance ideology that now underpins much social policy in Australia; the growth in telecommunications, satellite and internet access; the centralisation of services into regional centres (the so-called ‘sponge' towns) and the demand for productivity and economic gains. It seems ironic that we are documenting such change at a current moment when Australia is experiencing an economic boom, as much of that is centred in our cities, and for those who continue to live in the bush, it remains a distant dream.
This special edition called for papers to consider this decade of change and its impacts, as well as begin to identify signposts for future practice. These include: the changing role of women and the importance of local leadership and volunteering; the capacity for resiliency and the need for policy to recognise this; and the increasing need for diversity and inclusion in communities that aspire to be sustainable. The papers also highlight the impact on practitioners, and the need to begin to develop curriculum that will enable future practitioners to have the necessary skills for complex rural practice.
Our papers are as diverse as the communities and issues they discuss. We begin with a ‘tale from the field' from Myra Pincott (President of the Country Women's Association of Australia) highlighting the impact of a decade of change on three communities. Myra's perspective is that ‘from the ground up' and her description of the consequences of both natural and man-made impacts are salutary and lead us into the first paper, that of Margaret Alston and Jenny Kent's analysis of the pressures on human services in times of crisis. They have highlighted the importance of the paradox that while volunteers are still heavily relied on they are increasingly more difficult to find. They also recognise the continuing pride and stoicism inherent in rural communities, and how this impacts on people's health and well-being sometimes in a negative way. They conclude by identifying the stress on practitioners in the face of a crisis such as drought. The roles of practitioners are also taken up by the following authors - Rosemary Green and Raeleene Gregory - in their analysis of practice by social workers in two Australian states. The constant re-integration of new practitioners into communities is both economically and emotionally exhausting. The authors found that ethical issues were important to their respondents, as were lack of professional support and mentoring and networking.
Investigating the support and resources needed to retain rural GPs and their family was the starting point of Helen Cheney, Juliet Willett and Erin Wilson's research project. Uncovering those needs then led the researchers to implement and evaluate strategies to address the GP's family, practice and personal needs. Sandy Paton and Caroline Cuckson write on the introduction of a new service delivery model in rural Central Queensland. They suggest that such new models demand the involvement of all stakeholders in order to ensure success as well as the learning from such experiences informing policy development.
Margaret Lynn's paper takes the relationship between practitioners and community a step further by exploring how a community development policy framework within a rural practice agency can increase the potential for rural practitioners to build community capacity. Drawing on current research in Queensland, Lesley Chenoweth explores how such capacity building practice is changing the role of the rural practitioner, and how this in term makes the recruitment and retention of practitioners in the bush increasingly of importance to agencies and governments. She discusses six elements of newer forms of rural and remote practice and proposes an education model which integrates these elements and other principles for rural practice in future human service curricula.
This Special Edition marks the paradigm shift in rural practice that has occurred over the past decade. It draws together scholarship from across the nation and it offers much in the way of ‘evidence-based' practice - both at the level of service delivery and in curriculum development for future practitioners. It will contribute to debates underway about the quality of life in rural Australia as well as how best to continue to provide services outside of metropolitan settings. I take this opportunity to offer my thanks to my Editor - Marion Bannister for her unstinting support and energy through the life of this project, and to the many reviewers of these papers who gave their time and their comments in the spirit of collaboration.
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