Indigenous psychology in Australia
Experiences of colonial oppression have had a profound and enduring effect on the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and communities throughout Australia and other indigenous nations globally. On almost every headline, indicator statistics show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people fare worse than their non-Indigenous counterparts. Australian psychology has been implicated […]
Decolonising tertiary psychology student support in Australia: empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychology students
Objective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including psychologists, are actively leading and decolonising psychology. The focus of decolonising psychology is on epistemic justice for Indigenous knowledges and delivering culturally responsive services. Indigenous psychologists play a vital role in the decolonising process. Despite recommendations and initiatives aimed at decolonising psychology tertiary programs, such as increasing […]
Toward culturally responsive psychology higher education courses: psychologists’ perspectives on preparedness to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients
Background Psychology course regulatory standards for Australian universities have evolved in that universities are required to include cultural responsiveness in psychology curriculum and demonstrate graduate competencies for working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients. Aim This study aimed to explore psychologists’ perspectives about the higher education (HE) psychology curriculum in relation to their preparedness […]
Working Together in Psychology Higher Education
Dr. Stacey McMullen, Professor Monica Thielking, Professor Jeneva Ohan and Ms Belle Selkirk discussing the significance of the Working Together book in psychology higher education and how they’ve used it throughout their careers as educators and psychologists. This event was part of a series of webinars commemorating the tenth anniversary of the seminal text book, […]
Untying Settler-Colonial Knots in Australian Psychology
This reflexive paper is written from the positionality of an Indigenous psychologist in response to the majority-Australia vote against constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the National Referendum, October 14th, 2023. I utilise the Net Metaphor conceptual tool offered by Jongbloed, Hendry, Behn Smith, and Gallagher Kʷunuhmen to articulate settler-colonialism in […]
Decolonising psychology: Why voice matters
Pat Dudgeon, Australia’s first registered Indigenous psychologist, and her colleagues Dawn Darlaston-Jones and Joanna Alexi make the case for decolonising psychology and celebrate the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge and learning into all Australian psychology curricula.
Decolonising Psychology – Part 1
In this two-part series, Professor Pat Dudgeon AM, Belle Selkirk and Dr Joanna Alexi (Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing) share their experiences of decolonising psychology and take listeners on a journey through the impactful work of the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP). Listeners are also recommended to read the corresponding factsheet: Psychology education […]
Psychology education needs to reflect the lives of aspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
To support aspiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to engage in psychology education in Australia, psychology curricula and teaching and learning programs should reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worldviews and lived experiences.
Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP) – Curricular approaches to increasing cultural competence and Indigenous participation in psychology education and training
Dudgeon, P. (2019). Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AlPEP) – Curricular approaches to increasing cultural competence and Indigenous participation in psychology education and training. Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing Grant, The University of Western Australia, Poche Centre for Indigenous Health. https://timhwb.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/AIPEP-Final-Report.pdf
Decolonising psychology: The Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project
Professor Pat Dudgeon and her UWA colleagues Belle Selkirk and Dr Joanna Alexi led a plenary session at APAC’s inaugural Community of Practice conference (October 30th, 2024).
Fact sheet: Professional competencies for psychologists. Understanding Competency 8: Demonstrates a health equity and human rights approach when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, families and communities
Self-determination in programmes of perinatal health for Aboriginal Communities: A systematic review
Objective The importance of self-determination in restoring the wellbeing of Australian First Nations peoples is becoming understood. For thousands of years, Aboriginal women gave birth on Country and Grandmothers’ Lore and Women’s Business facilitated the survival of the oldest living civilisations on earth. Following colonisation, however, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practices of maternal and […]
Aboriginal Practitioners’ Perspectives on Culturally Informed Practice for Trauma Healing in Australia
Colonisation continues to impact Aboriginal children and families through perpetual cycles of transgenerational trauma. To achieve culturally safe and effective healing, practitioners working with Aboriginal people must be culturally competent, yet existing research suggests culturally informed practice (CIP) is often poorly understood and implemented by many practitioners. Centring Indigenous perspectives, the present study explored how […]
Boongs, Bigots, and Bystanders: Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Experiences of Racism and Prejudice and their Implications for Psychology in Australia
‘Ready, steady. Practice!’: How working better with Indigenous Australian people can take as little as three minutes of your time
For fans of a certain afternoon cooking show, the title of this article may bring to mind the frantic preparation of apparently delectable meals relying on a restricted range of ingredients within a restrictive time frame. The notion that good things may be achieved in a short period is applied in this article which proposes […]
Cultural Safety in Australia
Young urban Aboriginal adults’ perspectives of culture and SEWB
Critical Reflexivity in Indigenous and Cross-cultural Psychology: A Decolonial Approach to Curriculum
Highlights Critical reflexivity is a mechanism for working toward decoloniality in higher education. We analyzed Indigenous and cross-cultural psychology students? written reflections. Analyses revealed that students negotiate experiences of discomfort and uncertainty in the classroom. Findings support the value of discomfort for prompting transformations among students. We pose a commentary on the tensions inherent to […]
Use of the Westerman Aboriginal Symptoms Checklist – Youth (WASC-Y) to screen for mental health problems in Indigenous youth in custody
The primary aim of this study was to screen for mental health problems in Australian Indigenous young people in a youth detention centre using the Westerman Aboriginal Symptoms Checklist – Youth (WASC-Y). Over the study period, all Indigenous young people admitted into custody were referred for screening with the WASC-Y, a culturally validated fivescaled instrument […]
The Westerman Aboriginal Symptom Checklist – Youth Version: national data from a clinical sample of Aboriginal youth
To produce national clinical norms for WASC-Y, examine the internal consistency of the WASC-Y scales, compare scores from a clinical sample with previously published community sample data, and test the degree to which other scales predict the Suicide Scale. We analysed WASC-Y data from 1226 Aboriginal youth who had presented to mental health services between […]
Journey of a Lifer: A Peter Smith story
Recommendations from Research into What Aboriginal Students Say Affects Their Social and Emotional Wellbeing While at University
This article will report on the recommendations from a study that investigated what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students said affected their social and emotional wellbeing. The study interviewed students from seven different universities and utilised thematic analysis to determine what the factors where. As a result, a number of strategies became apparent that could […]
Strategies for coping and dealing with lateral violence among Aboriginal people living in south-east Australia
Objective Lateral violence, a group of behaviours directed towards people of the same group, is considered endemic among Aboriginal people. Behaviours include bullying, gossiping, isolation or exclusion of certain group members, and challenges to one’s Aboriginal identity. Lateral violence impacts all aspects of one’s life. Due to its pervasiveness, this qualitative study investigated strategies employed […]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Complex Trauma and Strengths Questionnaire: psychometric evaluation
Objective Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex trauma) describes a cluster of symptoms frequently associated with prolonged exposure to inescapable threats or abuse. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia impacted by complex trauma, there may be compounding factors, such as experiences of historical trauma, loss and socio-economic deprivation stemming from colonisation. However, there […]
Dhoombak Goobgoowana: A History of Indigenous Australia and the University of Melbourne-Volume 1: Truth
Dhoombak Goobgoowana acknowledges and publicly addresses the long, complex and troubled relationship between the Indigenous people of Australia and the University of Melbourne. It is a book about race and how it has been constructed by academics in the University. It is also about power and how academics have wielded it and justified its use […]
