Why LIPPE? What will it do? A yarn with Faye McMillan

Whose Country are you on?

It was good to see so many dialling in from Country:

Go slow, honour and respect

Reflecting on our logo, created by Indigenous artist Sarah Richards, Faye said the "rippling" represents the notion of intentionally placing our footsteps into this space and watching the impact of that.

"Drawing on my own culture and yindyamarra of Go slow, honour and respect, it also means that we are mindful of the footprints we are leaving. That they are sustainable and they are creating those connections between the past, where we are now and where we want to be into the future."

"LIPPE is an opportunity to come together in relationships, recognising sovereignty of First Nations people and the sovereign relationships that exist across two organisations and what that responsibility means.

"It's something that will have transformative opportunities across generations. The intergenerational impacts of these purposeful footsteps become our future. 

Why LIPPE?

"Whilst there's a lot of enthusiasm, there's also a lot of seriousness that sits behind the purpose and intent of LIPPE. It's recognising that the United Nations declarations of the rights of Indigenous peoples underpins all of the work that we do and that these are vital conversations for us to be having," Faye said.

"This is not just undergraduate and postgraduate programs, this goes to the ongoing professional development space. It's in a number of other spaces where life long learning within the profession takes place. It isn't just for new pharmacists coming through, it's for current pharmacists that are practising their craft with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands.

"It is the obligation to direct education, research and service activities towards addressing the priority health concerns of the community region and/or nation, that as pharmacists we have mandates to serve. Priority health concerns are to be identified jointly, by governments, healthcare organisations, health professional and the public. This is where APC, CPS, the Indigenous Health Strategy Group and the members of the LIPPE Steering Committee have taken this on board to see where the connections that keep us all together are and ensure we are moving that forward collectively."

What does LIPPE mean to you?

You shared what LIPPE meant to you and why you wanted to be part of the LIPPE family.

• Help to embed cultural safety into our teaching
• Learn more about how to be culturally safe when delivering pharmacy education
• Work towards cultural safety and competence in pharmacy and education
• It is important that First Nations learning is incorporated into pharmacy education
• Embed First Nations perspectives into our UC curriculum
• Create a new way to teach students
• Make a safe place for our First Nations students within a tertiary education system within Health and ensure they see themselves as belonging in this space
• Equal access to health for all
• Create a better knowledge base and connections for myself to assist with embedding cultural competency to intern training programs
• Share ideas and resources to incorporate Indigenous health and cultural safety into pharmacy training
• Bring First Nations learning into our health care
• Part of the journey to recognise First Nations perspectives are relevant to all
• Learn from each other being on a journey to improve First Nations health
• A way to culturally engage
• Responsibility and purpose
• Individually and collectively start the journey
• Learn and to be a more inclusive practitioner and leader
• Learn how to improve communication
• Learn from each other
• Make a difference
• Make change

What is your pledge?

As we came to a close you also made a commitment. Here is what some of you said when we asked "What is your pledge?"

• My PhD
• Engage in co-design process
• Increase affordable access to compounded medicines
• Learn hello in the language of the country I’m on and use it
• Issue a public apology to local Indigenous community
• Adapt and write learning to include collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health providers as an important part of multi-disciplinary teams
• Support pharmacy programs to identify and implement effective strategies for recruitment and retention of Indigenous pharmacy students
• Share experiences of teaching resources that have been helpful in this space
• Identify and share resources for Indigenising pharmacy curriculum and graduating Indigenous students
• Make sure First Nations pharmacy students know how deadly they are and the history of strong pharmacists that stand beside them
• Help pharmacy students begin their journey towards cultural competence
• Be more active in incorporating First Nation learning into pharmacy education
• Ensure First Nations perspectives are embedded across all of our curriculum in a meaningful way
• Continue to advocate for First Nations education to be included in curriculum for my MClinPharm students
• Going to do a PhD that will contribute to Queensland’s Health Equity Agenda in the hospital pharmacy environment
• Link program in with other networks, programs, and stakeholders, by working with LIPPE committee to understand who to engage and how
• We commit to promoting LIPPE sessions within our hospital pharmacy department to increase cultural capability

Faye emphasises using our positions of privilege to ensure we move forward and to recognise the strength that culture brings - it is not a deficit.

We look forward to enlivening the LIPPE objectives and seeing where this journey takes us. We appreciate all who are actively participating.