Ways to promote positive social and emotional wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that can help build resilience and prevent suicide will be the focus of a new postdoctoral fellowship awarded to research associate Dr Ee Pin Chang from The University of Western Australia.

Psychologists are concerned about anxiety and depression becoming long-term problems due to the pandemic, with the worst effects felt by the young and the vulnerable.

On the 26-28 October representatives from community-controlled health organisations, traditional healer groups, policy and academia, psychologists and psychiatrists, came together in Fremantle and online to share Indigenous knowledges, challenge paradigms and change the way mental health and wellbeing support for Indigenous people is planned and delivered. The Gathering was presented by the Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing (TIMHWB) project, a groundbreaking research program based at the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Western Australia. Professor Pat Dudgeon, director of the TIMHWB project, said those attending the Gathering “have the cultural and practical expertise to design empowering responses that will make a real difference in our people’s lives.

On Thursday 4 November 2021 Professor Pat Dudgeon took part in an IPAA ACT and Griffith Review virtual event on mental health awareness and its importance to the public sector. The event included Dr Ashley Hay, Editor, Griffith Review, who facilitated an exploration of the importance of mental health challenges in a broad conversation. Others taking part alongside Pat in the distinguished panel, included Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, Secretary of The Treasury and IPAA ACT President and Professor Patrick McGorry AO, Executive Director of the Orygen Youth Health Research Centre and Professor of Youth Mental Health at the University of Melbourne. The discussion covered psychological, psychiatric and economic dimensions of the mental health question in depth. The panel drew on its considerable personal and professional background to consider what has worked well and what needs improvement to meet our mental health challenges, and issued a hopeful call to action for the public sector and the wider citizenry to face and continue to develop its policies and approaches.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen Aboriginal health groups leading the response to the health crisis in their communities. Now, there are renewed calls for a similar approach to be adopted when it comes to mental health and suicide prevention.

The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) believes this year’s theme on World Suicide Prevention Day, ‘Creating hope through action’, aligns with the innovative work done by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led organisations and by NACCHO’s members to address disproportionate suicide rates amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, particularly amongst our young people.