Introduction: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience inequitable health and social circumstances. The Taingiwilta Pirku Kawantila project sought to understand challenges facing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on Kaurna Country in northern Adelaide and identify solutions within the community and for the health and social service system.
Methods: A respected local Aboriginal person engaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and service providers in yarning circles. Yarning centred on community needs and challenges, service gaps, access barriers, success stories, proposed solutions to address service and system challenges, and principles and values for service design and delivery to promote social and emotional wellbeing. A content analysis identified the breadth of challenges in addition to describing key targets for system, service and practice reform.

Results: Seventeen Aboriginal community members (including women, men, Elders and youth) and 66 workers from health and social services contributed to yarning discussions. Participants called for co-designed, strengths-based, accessible and flexible services delivered by Aboriginal workers with lived experience employed in organisations with Aboriginal leadership and governance. Community hubs and cultural events in addition to one-stop-shop service centres and pre-crisis mental health, drug and alcohol and homelessness services were among many solutions identified.

Conclusion: The Aboriginal community in northern Adelaide are calling for places to connect and practice culture. They seek culturally safe systems that enable equitable access to and navigation of health and social services. This evidence has been rapidly translated and influenced the development of innovative Aboriginal-specific services. These findings will be central to the codesign of a theory of systems change that outlines how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and community living on Kaurna Country can walk a journey together with effective local agencies to ultimately see the region as a strong and healthy place for community.