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World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference

Boorloo – Perth, Western Australia 2018

The second WISPC was hosted by The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) and an Indigenous Advisory Committee led by Glenn Pearson and Professor Dawn Bessarab.

WISPC 2018 Program

WISP 2018 Conference Program
Program

Cultural Ceremony

The cultural gathering was held on the pristine Scarborough Beach, in Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar (country) where Noongar Elders performed a traditional Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony and led national and international First Nation attendees in a celebration sand painting dance.
Cultural Ceremony

Healing Hub

A major focus of the WISPC was to provide a culturally safe space that offered a range of healing activities for all attendees including wildflower footbaths and neck massage, paperbark painting, yarning circles and private trauma sharing spaces with qualified counsellors and medics.
A further activity was offered for attendees to work together to produce a collective triptych artwork that included a cultural perspective of each First Nation group attending the conference.

Beautiful Healing on Wildflower Banksia Country 2018 (Triptych)

Medium: Acrylic on Canvas

Dimensions: 1180mm x 2570mm (LHS 1180mm x 820mm, Centre 1180mm x 910mm, RHS 1180mm x 840mm)

The artwork was a major focus of the Healing Hub at the World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conference in 2018, held on Whadjak Noongar Boodjar (land of the traditional custodians of Boorloo – Perth region).

The piece reflects a collective perspective view of sharing and healing together whilst working to produce an artwork that commemorates the gathering in the State of Wildflowers: a major healing iconic reference to both the Stolen Generations in Australia and Canada and all Indigenous peoples in their trauma recovery from colonial oppression.

Healing Hub

Photo Gallery

First Nations Celebrating Cultural Knowledge and Connection

The WISPC 2018 was attended by 550 delegates from around Australia and overseas, generating positive feedback, highlighting the high level of engagement across the conference program.

There was a significant number of younger generations including youth from the Anika Foundation (Anika Indigenous Cultural Exchange), who participated in many of the activities, workshops and sharing sessions, displaying positive collaboration, solidarity and inclusiveness in their approach to establish strong links and networks for future working relationships.

Photo
Gallery

Hope and Love

LOVE and HOPE music video

A collective of young Indigenous people and their music mentors have released a song about connection and belonging entitled LOVE and HOPE, encouraging the wider community to listen with their hearts to the lived experiences of Indigenous young people, their friends, families and communities to address the impacts of racism and the alarming rates of Indigenous youth suicide.

The LOVE and HOPE song and music video was produced by Culture is Life and the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention, Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, University of Western Australia and the National and World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conferences in Perth Western Australia in November 2018.

The Conferences featured a dedicated youth stream, led by Culture is Life’s Culture Squad Ambassadors. The song features Indigenous young people from Australia and Canada and was co-written by youth stream delegates with songwriting mentors from the Homelands Tour and the Youth Music Mentoring Project.

This release features original music by Glenn Skuthorpe with performances by Justice-Lee Quachegan, Natasha Eldridge, Deanne Moore, Delroy Bergsma, Kathleen Cox, Jaydan Ahmat and Thelma Cheechoo. The song was produced by Katie Symes and recorded, mixed and mastered by Colin Wynne at Thirty Mills Studios and also recorded across a number of other studios in Australia and Canada including Forest, Yama-Nui, David Dowe and Street Front Studios. Music video by Brian Cohen at Media Unit B.

We acknowledge and pay respects to the Noongar people, the traditional custodians of the lands and waterways on which the music video was filmed.

We thank all Indigenous Elders and conference delegates from around the world who came together to share their stories and cultures.

Hope
and
Love

Handover to Canada

Conference Dinner and Handover to Canada

The Conference Dinner proved a wonderful event and official close to the gathering where representatives from the Hosts (CBPATSISP and the Indigenous Advisory Committee) led the Handover, Professor Tom Calma AO, one of Australia’s most celebrated Aboriginal human rights and social justice campaigners, emphasised the importance of addressing suicide prevention in all our individual communities and the need for continued solidarity of WISPC. There were several responses from First Nation delegates concluding with the Canadian delegation formally accepting to be the next country to hold WISPC 2020. The Dinner closed with the handing over of the Australian Healing Stone, to be a centre piece of cultural exchange and continuity of Australia’s support of future conferences and cultural gatherings (WISPC).
Handover
to
Canada

Report

WISP 2018 Conference Full Report
Report

...Thank you for your hospitality and sharing the knowledge and culture of the beautiful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. My heart was filled seeing the strength and support from the brothers and sisters to each other. The beauty of the dance, songs and culture added strength [to] those in attendance. I was grateful to see all the aunties, uncles and youth in attendance. I wish you all the best for [the] next conference...

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