Tracy Tabvuma joins Equally Well as an Ambassador, to help improve health care equity. Her mission in the role, is a focus on doing what she can to help shine a light on the invisible factors.
Equally Well’s dedication to promoting evidence-based, person-centred care and intersectionality is pivotal in promoting health equity. This was a key factor in attracting Tracy Tabvuma as a new Equally Well Ambassador.
Her mission in the role, is a focus on doing what she can to help shine a light on the invisible factors that can determine the physical health outcomes and quality of life for people living with mental health issues.
“My primary goal for Equally Well is to advance truly integrated care models that honour both physical and mental health, especially for ethnically and culturally diverse communities. I am also eager to promote solution-focused approaches to dismantling systemic biases in healthcare and co-designed services with consumers and carers.”
A proud African-Australian / Black Therapist, Tracy is a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse who is passionate about empowering people who are often under-represented or misunderstood to fully experience culturally responsive therapy and subsequent mental wellness. She has been privileged to work with people across the spectrum of race, culture, age, sex, sexual orientation and diagnosis through roles in various primary, tertiary, policy and academic mental health settings.
Tracy believes invisibility drives the systemic bias and hides issues that enable health inequity within the system, precluding prevention efforts and tailored interventions that could have life-saving impacts.
“Equally Well could potentially address this issue by championing the routine collection and reporting of disaggregated health data across all the initiatives. This means building partnerships with relevant ethnically and culturally diverse organisations, community leaders from Black, African, and other priority populations at every step, from survey design through to data governance.”
Tracey’s professional commitment draws on insights from her PhD exploring the role of the Physical Health Nurse Consultant (PHNC) in supporting people diagnosed with a mental illness (specifically psychosis). From the perspectives of consumers, carers and health professionals, the findings highlighted the value of embedding this role into everyday clinical practice.
Read more about Tracy’s goals in her full Ambassador profile.
