Class clown to academic, how Kalkadoon man, Allan Takken, uses his career in research to improve outcomes for his people
Allan Takken, a proud Kalkadoon man, walked through doors of the Mt Isa Hospital and heard his name yelled across the hallway.
“Allan, I did it!”
Allan looked across the hallway to see Oli*, an Aboriginal child from Kalkadoon, who Allan had an agreement with – if Oli took his medications every day for one year, Allan would buy him a Cowboys jersey.
“Did he actually?” Allan asked Oli’s mum.
“He did” Oli’s mum said.
And true to his word – Allan personally paid for Oli’s new Cowboys jersey.
“Oli was so proud of himself,” Allan recounted, “and he’s given himself a better shot at a longer life now too.”
“That’s the thing about being true to your word, it makes all the difference when you are working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
Allan started working in research as an exercise facilitator for Queensland Health with some trepidation. The complexities of working in research is fraught with mistrust amongst Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who faced colonisation, dealt with the impacts of the stolen generations, and lived within and worked against racist systems. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been extensively studied by groups who have more power and privilege since colonisation (NHMRC). At the same time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices have been disregarded and often suppressed, leading to distorted versions of understandings ‘about’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, so this “research” provided very little perceivable benefit to their communities (NHMRC).
“I started working as an exercise facilitator for Queensland Health, the elders started walking at 20m and in just a few weeks, they were doing laps of the PA hospital,”
The results for his people had Allan hooked and he took a pivot into cultural safety and engagement in paediatric research and care, motivated by his determination to help kids and community.
“Aboriginal people are the most researched group in the world, but there isn’t much to show for it when it comes to closing the gap,”
“My role helps shape how we approach communities in structuring and implementing research that will ultimately improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their communities,” Allan said.
Allan emphasised the importance of working with communities when undertaking research, “when I worked for the Indigenous Respiratory Value Study, we didn’t just take from the community. We came back to them and gave them a presentation on our findings which the community really appreciated.”
When Allan was asked what brought him to child health research, he said he loves to help kids and wants to make sure none of them fall for the rhetoric that is thrown at them, like it was thrown at him.
“I was a class clown at school. I was told I was going to be a drop-kick, labelled dumb, and that was just because I was bored at school – I either picked it up too easily, or I didn’t find it interesting because it wasn’t sport.”
“Now I work in an academic role. Yesterday I got accepted to study Social Work at University and then I want to complete a Masters or PhD in FAS-D, as too many kids are getting mis-diagnosed as on the spectrum, then get into trouble – because they are not getting the correct interventions and are being jailed instead of treated.”
When Allan was asked how he would like to advocate for his people through research, Allan said he would like to take a holistic approach.
“It comes back to educating our staff but our people too. We need to keep our history and keep telling our stories, but also look at broader parenting and family approaches, so that we can break systematic cycles and have our kids thrive,” said Allan.
LEAP-CP: an initiative to empower Aboriginal communities for early detection and intervention for cerebral palsy in children.
Allan is the cultural safety research coordinator for the LEAP-CP program. The LEAP-CP program led by Dr Kath Benfer and Professor Roslyn Boyd at the Queensland Cerebral Palsy and Rehabilitation Research Centre and the Child Health Research Centre, aims to empower Aboriginal communities in remote areas for early identification and intervention of cerebral palsy through a culturally sensitive, ‘best -practice’ peer to peer model with local Aboriginal community change agents.
Children in remote communities are often not diagnosed with cerebral palsy until they are two years of age, however, reliable detection of cerebral palsy can be identified as early as 13 weeks.
The LEAP-CP program aims to empower Aboriginal communities with the tools to improve early detection and intervention of cerebral palsy in remote Aboriginal communities so that their children with cerebral palsy can:
- Improve their motor function,
- Prevent them from further secondary complications, and
- Improve their participation in socialisation and other daily activities.
Leading to healthier and stronger Aboriginal children and communities.
This important work could not be done without the generous donations from our community, philanthropists and government funding bodies. Donate today.
*Name of child changed for privacy.