Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Primary health care involves understanding that improvement of the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must include attention to the physical, spiritual, cultural, emotional and social wellbeing of the individual, the family and the whole community. When working with this client you will review a client history and offer your views on the importance of culturally appropriate services and programs to meet the needs of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander clients. If you need to find out more about the history of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people and its impact on the health of Indigenous Australians select Our history. Read and print the client history for Marlene Hayden first. Then, use the left menu to work through these activities. Or, just jump in where you left off last time. | ||
Marlene Hayden
Marlene Hayden is a 54 year old woman who has suffered from bouts of severe depression since her 20s.
Marlene was removed from her parents as a child along with her brother. She was brought up in a group home for Aboriginal children. While she has reconnected with her community and extended family as an adult, she says she still feels like an ‘outsider’. Both her parents are deceased and her brother died of a drug overdose.
She had her first child at 17 and by her mid 20s she had three children to different fathers. Her ex-boyfriend was violent and abusive. Because of domestic violence and her depression, her three children were removed from her and placed in foster care. She has attempted suicide a number of times in the past.
Marlene is on medication for her depression. A disability support pension is her only source of income and she lives in an inner city Department of Housing flat. She is socially isolated and, although she reconnected with her now grown up children some time ago, she has become estranged from them recently.
Marlene doesn’t drink alcohol anymore, but did so for many years after her children were taken into care. She smokes heavily and she often spends much of her pension ‘playing the pokies’, leaving her short for food and rent money.
Marlene has been a long time client of an inner suburban ATSI controlled health service.