Zarghona Lafraie
In Aotearoa New Zealand, cultural safety is part of all health professionals’ training. The concept is deeply connected to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi—partnership, participation, and protection. But cultural safety is not just a professional concept for me. It’s personal as well, and thinking about it carries painful memories.
When I trained as a nurse here, it took me five years. Not because I lacked determination, but because English was not my first language. I had to read and reread, working twice as hard just to understand, to keep up and find my place in a system that was not built for someone like me.
I still remember my tutors saying to me, ‘you will not make it, You are not good enough.’ Those words do not disappear. They stay —quiet, but heavy. And yet, I kept going. Because when we arrive as refugees, we come with very little – but we carry hope for safety, dignity and for a future where our children can belong.
[Read more…] about Understanding cultural safety: A nurse’s reflection
My son and I stand on the corner of Frederick and Great King Streets in Dunedin. He is wearing seven strings of beads around his neck and holding a blue collection bucket. His necklace is so heavy it makes his neck ache, so he didn’t put it on until we reached our designated spot. The hospital looms above us, blotting light from the pavement below. But, here on our corner, the sun shines.
I’ve often wondered what speciality I’d have chosen, if not haematology. Somehow, I keep looping back to psychiatry, which is odd, as I certainly wasn’t drawn to the discipline as a medical student. And yet, fascinated by the combination of art and science, I’d earned A+s and As in my psychology papers in first-year university. It’s increasingly clear that the mind and body are inextricably entwined, in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part. Perhaps, at the time, psychiatry was far too close to home, with too many reminders of my own family’s mental health history – schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety and a depression so severe that it ended my brother’s life at 21.