A3 | AUSTRALIAN INDIGENOUS PSYCHOLOGIST ASSOCIATION (AIPA)
Tracks
Stream 1
| Friday, July 31, 2026 |
| 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM |
| Ballroom A |
Overview
PRES 60 mins: The Importance of Selfhood in Culturally Responsive Practice (Mary Goslett, Jody Kamminga)
Presenter
Mary Goslett
Director
AIPA
The importance of selfhood in culturally responsive practice
3:15 PM - 4:15 PMAbstract
Contemporary neuropsychology is grounded in Euro-Western constructions of selfhood that position the individual as an autonomous, internally located agent whose cognitions organise human experience. These ideas, rooted in cultural, historical, and philosophical traditions, have been shaped by the rise of rationalism and the psychocentric models that continue to inform mainstream psychological theory and assessment. From Descartes’ division of mind, body, and soul to the modern emphasis on an internally coherent, self-directed subject, the Euro-Western “self” has been conceptualised as a disengaged, rational entity. Although often unexamined, these assumptions shape the design of neuropsychological tests, the interpretation of performance, and prevailing definitions of deficit and functioning.
Indigenous Australian understandings of selfhood offer a markedly different orientation. Here, identity is relational, ecological, and embedded within networks of kinship, community, ancestry, and Country. Wellbeing emerges through connection and belonging, while suffering arises from disconnection and imbalance. The Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) framework reflects this holistic worldview, outlining interconnected domains—spirituality, kinship, community, culture, body, mind, emotions, and Country—that collectively shape a person’s health and lived experience. Such relational ontologies challenge the assumptions that underlie conventional neuropsychological practice, asking us to consider how cognition and functioning should be understood when the self is both individual and constituted within relationships.
This presentation examines how contrasting understandings of selfhood influence neuropsychological assessment, formulation, and intervention. Drawing on the Psychology Board of Australia’s Professional Competencies—particularly Competency 3 (reflexivity) and Competency 8 (health equity and culturally safe practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)—it argues that cultural safety cannot be achieved through minor adaptations to standardised testing. Instead, it requires a re-examination of the epistemological foundations of neuropsychology, a critical awareness of how colonisation and systemic inequity shape brain health, and a commitment to relational, process-oriented approaches grounded in Indigenous Australian worldviews. By embracing these perspectives, neuropsychology can work more ethically, respectfully, and effectively with Indigenous Australian peoples, contributing to a more just and responsive future for the field.
Indigenous Australian understandings of selfhood offer a markedly different orientation. Here, identity is relational, ecological, and embedded within networks of kinship, community, ancestry, and Country. Wellbeing emerges through connection and belonging, while suffering arises from disconnection and imbalance. The Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) framework reflects this holistic worldview, outlining interconnected domains—spirituality, kinship, community, culture, body, mind, emotions, and Country—that collectively shape a person’s health and lived experience. Such relational ontologies challenge the assumptions that underlie conventional neuropsychological practice, asking us to consider how cognition and functioning should be understood when the self is both individual and constituted within relationships.
This presentation examines how contrasting understandings of selfhood influence neuropsychological assessment, formulation, and intervention. Drawing on the Psychology Board of Australia’s Professional Competencies—particularly Competency 3 (reflexivity) and Competency 8 (health equity and culturally safe practice with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples)—it argues that cultural safety cannot be achieved through minor adaptations to standardised testing. Instead, it requires a re-examination of the epistemological foundations of neuropsychology, a critical awareness of how colonisation and systemic inequity shape brain health, and a commitment to relational, process-oriented approaches grounded in Indigenous Australian worldviews. By embracing these perspectives, neuropsychology can work more ethically, respectfully, and effectively with Indigenous Australian peoples, contributing to a more just and responsive future for the field.
.....
Mary is a Yuin Budawang woman, Clinical Psychologist and Ahpra Board Approved Supervisor. She has a private psychology, supervision and consultancy practice specialising in Indigenous Australian psychology and culturally responsive therapeutic practice, emotional dysregulation, performing arts psychology, PTSD and Complex Trauma. Mary has been a psychotherapist for 30 years and a psychologist for 12, with a long and varied history in community work, adult education and mental health services. She lectures in Indigenous Australian psychology as well as conducting training workshops and programs for journalists, creatives, and psychologists and other mental health and social services professionals. Mary is a Professional Practice Fellow of the University of Western Australia and a Director of the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association (AIPA). She is a co-author of the Listening More suite of resources for providing culturally responsive supervision for psychologists, and of a chapter, “wangii wadhan biyay” – bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous psychologies together within a decolonising framework; another on “Deep Yarning”, an Indigenous psychotherapeutic model; and is co-developer of the 6Ps x 8 domains formulation tool for working with Indigenous Australians.
Ms Jody Kamminga
University Of New South Wales
The importance of selfhood in culturally responsive practice
3:15 PM - 4:15 PM.....
Jody Kamminga is a clinical neuropsychologist with over a decade of experience in public health services across brain injury, mental health, and alcohol and other drug services in New South Wales. She is an AHPRA Board Approved Supervisor for general psychologists and neuropsychology registrars. Her clinical interests focus on developing equitable neuropsychology services, with an emerging emphasis on decolonising practice and privileging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. Jody is undertaking a PhD on decolonising neuropsychological practice under Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance, while providing clinical consultation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people intersecting with the justice system and working as a research fellow with the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP).
