Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practices.
The Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice had its origins in the Australian Government’s commitment to improve mental health services nationally. The book was a key strategy to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-specific initiatives of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) mental health reform over five […]
Statement of Intention to Improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing
Twenty-four national allied health organisations became signatories to the Statement of Intention to Improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing, at Parliament House in March 2014.
Intellectual disability in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; family
The aim of this chapter is to examine current and emerging themes in respect to intellectual disability to assist clinicians and their patients. Recent literature points to an increased rate of intellectual disability across the lifespan, from childhood, adulthood and old age, in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with a number of factors that […]
Understanding the lives of Aboriginal children and families
Two case studies representing the lives of young people in an urban and rural context, respectively, are presented in this chapter with the intention of engaging the reader in the life course of young people in Aboriginal families affected by loss, grief and other traumatic life episodes. The resilience of these young people is highlighted, […]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Curriculum Framework (the Framework) has been developed to address the variability amongst all health professions and higher education providers in terms of the nature and extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum is being implemented. The aim of the Framework is to provide a model for […]
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health: an overview
This chapter initially examines the concepts of physical and mental health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as they were understood and practiced over the vast majority of the last 40,000 years or so. The devastating consequences of the European colonisation of Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are described. […]
Addressing fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Aboriginal communities
This chapter begins with a description of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and examples of reported prevalence of FASD in the international context. It then draws on international and Australian studies to describe the burden of FASD, including studies relevant to the Aboriginal population. The section on the Australian context provides a description of some […]
Negotiating worldviews: Indigenous place in academic space
This chapter describes and critiques, from the perspective of an Indigenous global scholar, the development and delivery of a series of degree courses of study designed to respond to the historical, social and cultural trauma consequent to colonial worldviews interfacing with Aboriginal Australian Peoples and the expressed need for healing – not a word commonly […]
Harmful Substance Use and Mental Health
In this chapter, we briefly examine harmful substance use and mental health among Aboriginal Australians. We explore a range of issues including current substance use and related harms, social and emotional wellbeing and comorbidity, and the social determinants of mental health and harmful substance use. We examine the range of services that have been developed […]
Experiencing racism in health care: the mental health impacts for Victorian Aboriginal communities
A Resource for Collective Healing for Members of the Stolen Generations: Planning, Implementing and Evaluating Effective Local Responses
The purpose of the resource is to: Strengthen and build upon the work already being done in the community by Stolen Generations members, organisations and groups to provide collective healing responses. Encourage the inclusion of collective healing responses in services provided to the Stolen Generations, including support groups, group therapy programs, day trips on country, […]
The third conversation: has anything changed?
The Roundtable brought together Aboriginal community leaders and experts in Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention along with experts, scholars and policy makers to engage in a third conservation about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and suicide prevention with Emeritus Professor Michael Chandler from the University of British Columbia. The Roundtable style enabled […]
The Elders Report into preventing Indigenous self-harm and youth suicide
Interview excerpts of Elders featured in the Report. The Culture Is Life campaign aims to give a platform for Indigenous Elders and community leaders to influence public awareness, policy-making and service provision around Indigenous suicide prevention. One of the initial actions of the Culture Is Life campaign was the development of the’Elders Report on Preventing […]
Principles of practice in mental health assessment with Aboriginal Australians
In this chapter, concepts and history of assessment and testing in the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and mental health are discussed. Importantly, recently revised diagnostic guidelines and the National Practice Standards for the Mental Health Workforce 20131 and their appropriateness for meeting the distinctive needs of Aboriginal people […]
A history of Indigenous psychology
This chapter discusses how the discipline and practice of psychology has been part of the colonising process influencing the mental health of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It outlines events where the discipline of psychology has been supportive of, and responsive to, the Aboriginal mental health movement, heralding the empowerment and inclusion of […]
Addressing individual and community transgenerational trauma
This chapter provides a focus on trauma as cause and effect which, when untreated, can compound within and across generations. The result is physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social distress for individuals and broader social groups. While the experiences and transfer of trauma are not limited to members of specific racial or cultural groups, religions, […]
Aboriginal health promotion through addressing employment discrimination
The Localities Embracing and Accepting Diversity (LEAD) program aimed to improve the mental health of Aboriginal Victorians by addressing racial discrimination and facilitating social and economic participation. As part of LEAD, Whittlesea Council adopted the Aboriginal Employment Pathways Strategy (AEPS) to increase Aboriginal employment and retention within the organisation. The Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training Program […]
Family Violence: Pathways Forward
This chapter briefly examines the context in which various types of violence occurs in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. In particular, it explores how they define and contextualise the violence they or their family members are experiencing. This context is important in determining pathways forward for healing for the victim, the offender, their families […]
Seven phases to integrating loss and grief
This chapter describes an innovative and unique loss and grief model—the ‘Seven Phases to Integrating Loss and Grief ’—to ‘work with’ major challenges impacting on the social and emotional wellbeing and mental health in Aboriginal communities. Incorporating 25 years of personal and professional experiences, the Seven Phases model comprises a comprehensive process addressing many of […]
Mental Disorder and Cognitive Disability in the Criminal Justice System
This chapter examines what is known about the prevalence of mental disorder and cognitive disability amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in contact with the criminal justice system and how these issues impact on individuals, families and communities. The literature in this area is reviewed; there is now a considerable body of evidence supporting […]
Red Dust Healing: Acknowledging the past, changing the future
This chapter provides a view from a new angle. It briefly describes a critical perspective on how a history of dispossession, rejection and powerlessness negatively affected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family structures and individual development and behaviour, and gave rise to the intergenerational transmission of trauma. However, it is important to note that conveying […]
Preventing suicide among Aboriginal Australians
This chapter begins with an overview of the recent epidemiological trends in suicide and attempted suicide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal Australians and how this compares with the situation in other post-colonial English speaking nations such as Canada and New Zealand. It then reviews studies exploring the historical and social aetiology of […]
The Marumali Program: healing for Stolen Generations
There are an estimated 10,625 people who directly experienced the trauma generated by forcible removal, an estimated 25,844 children (second generation) who have been living with parents affected by forcible removal, and an estimated 40,612 grandchildren who continue to experience the effects of their grandparents’ removal.1 Two models developed by Aboriginal people have been evaluated […]
Working with behavioural and emotional problems in young people
This chapter outlines specific issues relating to behavioural and emotional problems in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. It describes the most common disorders and their consequences, and how young Aboriginal people are at higher risk for developing such problems than other young Australians. The chapter also discusses the importance of psychosocial, cultural and […]
Promoting Aboriginal health: The family wellbeing empowerment approach
This book highlights the health gap that exists between Indigenous and other Australians and proposes that one solution is to empower Indigenous Australians to take control of their own health and wellbeing. In particular, the book describes an Aboriginal family wellbeing model of empowerment which has been used successfully in programs across Australia. The book […]