Shining a light on intergenerational complex trauma for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families

A proud Trawlwoolway woman from Tasmania, Professor Cath Chamberlain’s career has been built on a passion for lifelong learning, exploration and collaboration with others who share the same passion towards finding practical solutions to problems.

As a clinically trained paediatric nurse and midwife, Professor Chamberlain’s interest in women’s and children’s health has followed her throughout career from health services into academia.

It was during her PhD while researching gestational diabetes that she realised the growing evidence of intergenerational and complex trauma¹ and both the direct and indirect impacts it was having on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s health. With her passion for continuous learning, Professor Chamberlain sought to explore intergenerational and complex trauma and the implications for maternity care.

Professor Chamberlain proposed 3 main reasons why pregnancy, birth and early parenting (perinatal period) are critical points for intervention:

1. Pregnancy, birth and early childhood experiences can often trigger trauma related stress responses
2. This period offers unique lifetime opportunities for healing 
3. Parents have regular contact with perinatal services and need safe healing informed support to manage distress.

‘There was growing awareness that complex trauma is an issue, but little understanding of what that meant in perinatal care services, particularly in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. We knew this was a really sensitive and difficult research area, so we put in a grant application to explore this issue more deeply and co-design perinatal support strategies’ said Professor Chamberlain.

Through conducting evidence reviews and workshops focused on co-designing perinatal strategies to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma, Professor Chamberlain was able to identify issues for consideration. These issues focused on trauma awareness in maternity care and early childhood services and culturally responsive healing informed support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents. They also highlighted the importance of developing a culturally sensitive assessment tool for complex trauma and concerns regarding the intersection between child protection and maternity services.

Working with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, and in partnership with the Lowitja Institute, Professor Chamberlain acknowledges the wisdom and generosity of the brave community members in speaking on such sensitive issues and contributing their knowledge to the project to improve care and support for parents. It was also the strong engagement and positive response from community members and peers working in the field that emphasised the positive impact of this research to Professor Chamberlain.

‘The workshop felt like a campfire in a storm because your listening has warmed and softened me. Tension has eased. Your work will bring out the knowing of Indigenous cultures, knowing about interrelatedness, interconnectedness, attachment orders and the whole, historical situation through the past, present and future. All these words are really just me trying to say thank you for the gift of your work’ said a workshop participant (2018).

Next steps

Professor Chamberlain is trialling the implementation of strategies to increase perinatal awareness, support, assessment for complex trauma, as well as improving safety with regards to child protection service notifications. This includes implementation of community-led support strategies to improve holistic and culturally responsive healing informed continuity of care aligned with birthing on country models. Professor Chamberlain hopes this research will create increased understanding of trauma and healing informed perinatal care which prevents parents being retraumatised, as well as further validation of an Aboriginal complex trauma and strengths questionnaire to understand prevalence and help those impacted by complex trauma to get the best support.

Chief investigator: Professor Catherine (Cath) Chamberlain

Institution: The University of Melbourne

Team members:

• Associate Professor Graham Gee
• Professor Yvonne Clark
• Ms Karen Glover
• Professor Judy Atkinson
• Professor Helen Herrman
• Professor Stephanie Brown
• Professor Jan Nicholson

Grant: Project Grant

Year: 2017–2022

Funding amount: $1,238,906

¹Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (complex trauma) is a cluster of distress symptoms which most commonly follows prolonged or repeated trauma, such as childhood abuse, neglect, or ongoing domestic abuse.