Curiosity Is Where Cultural Safety Begins
There is something powerful about returning to curiosity.
The kind of curiosity we had as children, when we’d ask questions freely, listen deeply and with great enthusiasm. When we were not only open to learning but craved it. In healthcare, returning to this mindset has the potential to radically transform how we engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and wider community. Cultural safety does not begin with certainty and dogma. It begins with curiosity.
Healthcare professionals are trained over years of study to seek answers, make fast decisions in quick timeframes, and provide solutions. Clinical environments often reward knowledge, certainty, and proficiency. Yet when it comes to engaging respectfully with your Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, it is not certainty that creates connection. It is curiosity.
Sincere curiosity cannot be faked. And leading with curiosity invites health professionals to step back from long held belief systems and into a space of learning, of becoming a student again. It shifts interactions away from needing to “know” and towards being willing to listen. In the context of Australian healthcare, this approach is critical. Not only because we are a richly multicultural nation but because we are home to the oldest continuing culture on earth. As healthcare workers, it is our responsibility to protect this. Cultural safety is not achieved through good intentions or information alone, but through everyday attitudes and behaviours grounded in respect.
For many First Nations people, culture is not separate from health. It is deeply interwoven with identity, family, community, ancestral knowledge and connection to Country.
Understanding this requires more than a surface-level awareness of cultural differences. It requires a willingness to ask thoughtful questions, to listen deeply, and to remain open to perspectives that may differ from Western models of health and wellbeing.
Returning to curiosity creates that opening.
It allows healthcare professionals to approach interactions without judgement, ideas and without the pressure of needing to have all the answers. Instead, it invites humility. It creates space for connection, and in turn, space for healing. It recognises that learning is ongoing, and that there is always more to understand.
There is something powerful about returning to a childlike sense of curiosity. Children are wonderful, natural observers. They have the innate ability to listen and engage with the world around them without rigid expectations. In many ways, this is the mindset that supports Culturally safe practice. It creates space to engage with culture in a way that recognises its richness, diversity, and depth.
It is important to note that curiosity must be self-directed. It is not the responsibility of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to educate non indigenous people. In or out of a clinical setting. Those working within the health system have a professional responsibility to seek out opportunities to learn, through training, reading, community engagement, and reflection on their own practice.
Curiosity also extends beyond acquiring knowledge. It is expressed in how healthcare professionals show up for their patients every day. Asking genuine questions and then listening without interruption. It’s showing real interest in a person’s life and experiences that can meaningfully shape and alter the course of the appointment and care for that patient as a whole, over time. Being open to sharing parts of your life back can foster connection and relationship. These actions may seem small, but their impact can be meaningful.
Curiosity is not about consuming culture and calling yourself an expert. It is about remaining open to learning, to listening, and to questioning our own assumptions.
Cultural safety is not built through information alone. It is built through the attitudes and behaviours that guide how that information is learnt and used. At the heart of those attitudes is curiosity. A willingness to keep learning, keep listening, and keep seeking deeper understanding.
The Frequently Unasked Questions series builds on this. It’s a five-part exploration for healthcare professionals, driven by curiosity and opening up questions that don’t always get asked.