Healthcare that gives everyone a voice

“Trust is a fundamental part of what we do… And it’s something that doesn’t come automatically – we have to maintain it by doing the right thing.”

Raised in the Moreton Bay region, Dr Mark Berry has a rich shared history with his patients – meaning as well as working on health outcomes, they’re able to yarn about the local neighbourhood. As Clinical Director and GP at Moreton ATSICHS for more than a decade, Mark has helped build its reputation as being run by Community, for Community – something he believes plays a crucial role in bringing patients to clinics.

“Culturally-safe care begins before you even meet the client,” says Mark. “It comes from the setting where we’re seeing people, from Moreton ATSICHS’ reputation and from a knowledge of our services amongst Community. Our patients know it’s a culturally safe space before they walk through the door.”

At Moreton ATSICHS, GPs work in an innovative pod model that sees multi-disciplinary experts come together as a team to provide holistic care to clients. Each team includes someone who identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and patients choose one person to be their point of entry for support. With flexible appointment times allowing for space to connect and yarn, it’s a culturally-safe system that works. 

“For those of us on the team who aren’t Aboriginal, it’s important we listen well and don’t make assumptions,” says Mark. “We make an effort to understand someone’s background and what they’ve been through, and try to adapt the Western medicine-approach we were trained in to something that meets the need of our clients.”

An alternative to mainstream services

Indeed, trusting the staff at Moreton ATSICHS to see beyond the lens of a Western framework is something Mark sees as integral to Community’s uptake of services.

“Trust is a fundamental part of what we do”, he says. “When managing chronic issues, a lot of our work as GPs is about empowering people to make changes in their lives, and we need to have a level of trust and rapport to do that. One reason lots of mainstream services fail to support people to make significant change is that they don’t have that trust built in. And it’s something that doesn’t come automatically – we have to maintain it by doing the right thing.”

Whilst demand for Moreton ATSICHS services continues to grow as the local population expands, its remit remains the same – to provide culturally safe programs and services that improve Mob’s health and wellbeing.

“The community’s getting bigger in terms of both the population and the demand,” says Mark. “We’re going to grow and meet that by expanding our services and having more doctors, nurses and health workers. There are also opportunities to fill a gap that’s not yet there – where we see a need we can act quickly, and six months later we’ll have a brand-new service.  Those suggestions can come from anyone – in community-controlled health, community always has a voice, no matter what.”

For more information about being a Moreton ATSICHS GP, head to our GP careers page.