4 November 2019 Funded by a $5 million dollar grant, key Indigenous leaders from across Australia held their inaugural meeting last month in Perth, charged with the task of finding innovative approaches to the complex problem of Indigenous wellbeing. Lead researcher Professor Pat Dudgeon, from the UWA Poche Centre and School of Indigenous Studies, said: “This multidisciplinary approach, which will investigate a range of initiatives to solve some of our country’s ‘wicked’ problems, is critical in improving the delivery of mental health services for Australia’s Indigenous population.” The grant, part of the Federal Government’s Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Million Minds Mission, follows calls for Indigenous mental health services that promote cultural values and empower service users. Researchers [...]

New guidelines to improve assessments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people presenting to hospital with self-harm and suicidal thoughts The Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies), commissioned by the Centre for Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) have developed evidenced-based Guidelines for best practice psychosocial assessment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people presenting to hospital with self-harm and suicidal thoughts (Guidelines) to improve the quality of care and outcomes for people presenting with suicidal thoughts and behaviours. A history of self-harm is one of the strongest known risk factors for suicide and represents an important opportunity to engage with people in a preventive intervention. As Professor Pat Dudgeon, Director of CBPATSISP notes: [...]

The Healing Colour of Country: Trauma recovery through culture, art and wildflowers Tuesday 9 July 2019 The 2nd National and World Indigenous Suicide Prevention Conferences in Perth Western Australia in November 2018 brought together Indigenous Elders, policy makers, researchers and community members from around the world, who came together to recognise the impacts of colonisation, past policies and subsequent trauma, disadvantage, marginalisation, lack of action by governments on Indigenous issues and the need for self-determined culturally responsive healing and recovery programs for suicide prevention. One such healing program that featured at the Conferences was the Sister Kate’s Home Kid’s Aboriginal Corporation Healing (SKHKAC) Hub. As Menang, Goreng, Wadjari woman of the Noongar Nation and Sister Kate’s CEO, Tjalaminu Mia [...]

Indigenous Leader commends the WA Government commitment to the recommendations of the Coronial report into the deaths of 13 children and young people Professor Pat Dudgeon, Project Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP), welcomes the McGowan Government's broad support for the recommendations outlined in 2018 Coroner’s report on the deaths of 13 children and young people in the Kimberley. As the Coroner acknowledged in her report, the experience of colonisation continues to affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people today and contributes to suicidal behaviour and suicide deaths through unresolved trauma, entrenched disadvantage and disconnection from traditional culture, compounded by racism and disempowerment. Professor Dudgeon said she was [...]

Workshop on Empowerment and Accountability in Indigenous Youth Suicide Prevention, Canberra The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) co-hosted a workshop on preventing Indigenous youth suicide in Canberra on Tuesday. The workshop focused on empowerment and accountability as ways to reduce suicide among Indigenous people and young people. CBPATSISP Director Professor Pat Dudgeon commented: The attendance of young people, those with lived experience of suicide, LGBTQI, emerging leaders and Elders was important at the workshop. It’s critical that we listen to, and learn from them if we are to understand how to best respond. Empowering our young people and Elders to lead in suicide prevention activity particularly in their communities - was [...]

Indigenous leaders welcome the weekend’s mental health research and youth suicide prevention announcements and call for multi-party support for empowerment, equity and significantly increased investment in Indigenous primary mental health care. Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) Director Professor Pat Dudgeon and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health (NATSILMH) Chair Mr Tom Brideson welcomed the weekend announcements on Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention. In particular, Professor Dudgeon welcomed the news that $22.5 million in Indigenous specific grants from the Million Minds Research Fund had been made: For years, Indigenous people have called for our community representatives, experts and leaders to lead research towards improving our wellbeing and mental [...]

Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) Director Professor Pat Dudgeon and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership in Mental Health (NATSILMH) Chair Mr Tom Brideson cautiously welcomed yesterday’s mental health and suicide prevention budget announcements but looked forward to more detail being released before committing to a response. Professor Dudgeon said: I am especially pleased to see commitments to a National Suicide Information System. This is something that CBPATSISP and, prior to that, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) called for. But it must operate in our communities and it’s not clear on the information provided whether it will. This is critical, such a system should help [...]

Background The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) was established by the Australian Government to help reduce the causes, prevalence and impact of suicide on Indigenous individuals, families and communities. In November 2018, CBPATSISP hosted two Indigenous-specific suicide prevention conferences in Perth that brought together 500 delegates from the national and international Indigenous communities to identify solutions that work in Indigenous suicide prevention. The delegates called Australian governments to action: to declare, and respond to, Indigenous suicide rates, including child and youth suicide rates, as a national crisis. The importance and relevance of their call is only reinforced by recent events. Four Queensland children and young people between 15 and 23 years old [...]