Pat Dudgeon is from the Bardi people in Western Australia. She is a psychologist and professor at the School of Indigenous Studies at UWA. Her research includes Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention. 

She is the director of the UWA  Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention and chief investigator of a national NHMRC research project, Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing, that aims to develop  approaches to Indigenous mental health services that promote cultural values and strengths as well as empowering users. She has many publications in Indigenous mental health, in particular, the Working Together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principals and Practice 2014.

As Australia’s first identified Indigenous psychologist she has been an influential in the profession. Amongst many activities, being the founding chair of the Australian Indigenous Psychologists’ Association (AIPA).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing

This keynote address will provide a brief overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing. The mental health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has become a critical issue and the evidence suggests a worsening mental health crisis. This is seen in reported high rates of psychological distress, hospitalisation for mental health conditions and most critically, increasing suicide rates. Mainstream western approaches to mental health have an ongoing history of failing to consider and include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ needs. This includes the failure to acknowledge historical and cultural contexts within conceptualisations of mental health and wellbeing.  The wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cannot be understood without appropriate recognition of these important contexts. 

This presentation will review social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB). This has emerged as an important Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander concept of mental health and wellbeing. Although the term is often used to refer to issues related to ‘mental health’ and ‘mental illness’, SEWB has a broader scope. It recognises the importance of connection to land, culture, spirituality, ancestry, family and community, and how these affect the individual, family and community. SEWB issues cover a broad range of problems that can result from unresolved grief and loss, trauma and abuse, domestic violence, removal from family, substance misuse, family breakdown, cultural dislocation, racism and discrimination, and social disadvantage. The holistic nature of wellbeing, the historical impacts resulting in social determinants that adversely influence wellbeing are discussed. In recent times, innovative approaches are emerging in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing that confirm a promising way forward.

In psychology, decolonising strategies are necessary and some of these involve reframing the discipline of psychology to incorporate Indigenous knowledges and worldviews.  Also, concurrently  increasing the involvement of Aboriginal psychologists, mental health practitioners and community healers in contributing to an Indigenous psychology. Our work involves advocating for the integration and legitimation of Aboriginal concepts of mental health and social and emotional wellbeing within mainstream health and mental health sector. Indigenous psychology has become a global concern and will be an important emerging discipline in the next decades.