Neuropsychology in Australia is undergoing a necessary paradigm shift as the discipline confronts its historical complicity in colonial harm and its reliance on WEIRD-derived cognitive constructs, assessment tools, and diagnostic frameworks. With the implementation of the PsyBA Professional Competencies, particularly Competency 8, and the revised Code of Conduct, neuropsychologists are now ethically required to adopt culturally safe, trauma-aware and rights-based approaches when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This paper examines the applicability of the 6 Ps × 8 Domains formulation model, a culturally informed, decolonising framework that integrates Indigenous Australian Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) principles, the Power Threat Meaning Framework, and ecological, temporal, and political determinants of health. The model expands the Western “5 Ps” by adding Power as a sixth organising principle and incorporating Lived Experience Context as an eighth domain, enabling clinicians to centre colonisation, racism, intergenerational trauma, structural determinants, and cultural strengths within case conceptualisation.

Applying this framework shifts neuropsychological practice from a test-driven diagnostic paradigm to a relational, context-sensitive, rights-based process. It enhances interpretive accuracy by foregrounding connection to Country, kinship structures, spirituality, disrupted educational pathways, trauma exposure, and chronic inequities. In doing so, it operationalises key components of Competency 8 and aligns with the Code of Conduct’s emphasis on cultural safety.

By embedding Dadirri (deep listening) as the relational stance holding the formulation process, the 6 Ps × 8 Domains model repositions the neuropsychologist as a collaborative meaning-maker working within Indigenous Australian epistemologies. This paper argues that adopting this framework is essential for reducing culturally unsafe practice, mitigating diagnostic risk, strengthening professional accountability, and advancing a decolonising future for neuropsychology grounded in relationality, rights, and respect.

Culturally informed neuropsychology is still in its early days of development. Often it is looked at as a challenge given the standardisation of measures used, however, there is such a large therapeutic component, like in the clinical interview, conversations throughout the assessment process and in feedback sessions where we can promote cultural safety. With that said, this session will strive to reflect some of the components of the new PsyBA Code of Conduct and Professional Competencies, including Principle 2 (Cultural Safety) and Competency 8 (Rights-based approach to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples).

Together, we will thoroughly explore ways to develop cultural safety, what cultural responsibility can look like and important considerations from early training to conducting neuropsychological assessments. More specifically we will unpack how to make a conscious effort ahead of time to know who your client is and how to prepare for them because that is the bare minimum within any client centered practice. I will also share some of the gaps I have noticed both within teachings of neuropsychology and in the field of practice. After addressing some of the gaps and missed cultural considerations, we will look at culturally safe ways to navigate and enact positive change collaboratively.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Recognise how the training journey of an Aboriginal neuropsychology student highlights gaps in current neuropsychological practice.
2. Apply culturally responsive practices (e.g., pre-assessment engagement, contextualised preparation) informed by Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing, in ways that align with PsyBA expectations for culturally safe, ethical, and client-centred practice.
3. Reflect on and enact cultural responsibility as an ongoing, active process, identifying specific changes to practice that are consistent with PsyBA competencies.