The Guddi Partners Project

Background: The Guddi Partners Project is a collaboration between Synapse; Specialist Disability Services Assessment and Outreach Team, Department of Communities, Disability Services, and Seniors; Griffith University; and Indigenous communities. We form partnerships with communities and organizations to develop culturally safe ways of understanding complex disablement including mental health disorders and neurocognitive disability. We advocate for policy and service development and reform built on this knowledge. Objectives: This session aims to: establish the extent and nature of complex disablement among marginalized Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; enhance service capacity to understand and respond effectively to this cohort using culturally safe processes; promote intersectoral collaboration and influence policy. Methods: Multiple projects focused on the needs of Indigenous people with complex disabilities, underpinned by community partnerships and rigorous mixed-method data analysis. Central to the project is the Guddi Protocol, a culturally safe assessment tool, and ‘Proper Way’ methodologies. Each piece of work stands alone but is linked to the others by framework, structure, values and methodologies. Findings: A total of 250 Guddi assessments undertaken across Australia revealed high levels of complex disability and high service uptake of the Guddi Protocol. The evidence base established has informed policy and service development by focusing on the needs of First Peoples who experience complex disability. Conclusions: Research within The Guddi Project can inform effective, culturally safe evidence-based policy reform. Better understandings of complex disability across sectors including mental health and disability; homelessness; criminal justice; and youth justice are needed to inform policy and practice.