Caring for Country: Indigenous Wellbeing, Law, and Environmental Justice

Climate change is emerging as a global determinant of mental health and wellbeing impacting existing and escalating socio-economic inequities (Charlson, et al, 2021). There is clear evidence that the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Indigenous peoples in general are being adversely impacted by climate change (HEAL Network & CRE-STRIDE […]

The Indigenous Turn: Epistemic Justice, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, and Social and Emotional Well-Being.

Colonial research practices across centuries have appropriated, exploited, and effectively ignored Indigenous knowledges across time. Part of Indigenous struggles for justice is to validate their own knowledges and knowledge holders. The protection of Indigenous knowledge is widely acknowledged by a number of human rights conventions and declarations. Article 31 of the United Nations Declaration of […]

Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander LGBTQIASB+ people and mental health and wellbeing

The high rates of suicide-related behaviour among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, combined with similar evidence relating to LGBTQIA+ people, suggest that there is a need to investigate the compound risk of suicide-related behaviour among people who are both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and LGBTQIASB+. This report highlights gaps in existing data collection […]

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

Closing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health gap is an urgent national priority. This commentary provides both an overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional well being and mental health and some of the promising initiatives for restoring wellbeing. Solutions for addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander mental health issues […]

Heal Our Way

Heal Our Way is a NSW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Campaign funded by NSW Ministry of Health under the Towards Zero Suicides (TZS), and is led by Cox Inall Ridgeway in partnership with Aboriginal Communities within NSW. The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness of suicide within Aboriginal communities in […]

ANZMHA Podcast: Pat Dudgeon

“Treasure your difference and your local connectedness. Serve your community in a way that makes your heart happy.” Today we have the trail blazing Pat Dudgeon on the podcast. We discuss with Pat how she started out in her studies, her motivations and the projects she’s been a part of. We discuss the big events […]

What does decolonisation within psychology mean for me?

Overview This panel discussion will explore the definitions and application of decolonisation in Australia. Specifically, it asks: What role can psychology and psychologists carry out within a decolonisation agenda?What does it look like for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples & for non-Indigenous Australians? What actions/attitudes/behaviours are involved?, and What can the discipline do to […]

Cultural safety in Trauma-Informed Practice: What’s culture got to do with it?

Overview This webinar explores the importance of culture in therapeutic practice, and will cover: concepts of cultural awareness levels cultural protects holistic client conceptualization cultural worldviews the journey from unconscious incompetence through to unconscious competence taking a systems approach historical trauma 6 guiding principles of Trauma-Informed Practice the 5R’s of Trauma-Informed approach cultural practices of […]

Decolonising Australian Psychology: The Influences of Aboriginal Psychologists

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia have been profoundly impacted by colonisation and continue to counter its affects by rebuilding language, regaining access to lands and living culture, and enhancing social and emotional wellbeing. The discipline of psychology has played a major role in perpetuating harm towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples […]

Indigenous community psychologies, decolonization, and radical imagination within ecologies of knowledges.

As the American Psychological Association Taskforce on Indigenous Psychology acknowledges, fidelity to the inalienable right to self-determination is the ethical foundation of Indigenous psychology. The task of decolonizing psychology is not only about divesting from Eurocentric paradigms that have controlled and limited Indigenous wellbeing, but producing new paradigms founded on Indigenous knowledges. The Indigenous paradigm […]

Developing cultural responsiveness

How do higher education providers introduce an understanding of cultural responsiveness to psychology students? We’re joined by three academics from the University of Western Australia to discuss the issues. Professor Pat Dudgeon is Australia’s first identified Indigenous psychologist. Dr Joanna Alexi is a research associate. And Professor Romola Bucks is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Medical […]