The wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in rural and remote Australia

We wish to acknowledge the custodians of each of the lands that we work on, and pay our respects to our Elders past, present and emerging. We pay respects to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners who are working with our people.

Professor Pat Dudgeon is from the Bardi people of the Kimberley area in Western Australia, a psychologist and Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society. Tanja Hirvonen is a clinical psychologist who is Jaru and Bunuba with connections from the Kimberley and the Barkly Tableland of the Northern Territory. The motivation driving our roles and with the work we undertake, particularly in contributing to the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association (AIPA), is to improve conditions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The health and mental health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are significantly poorer than those of other Australians. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in rural and remote areas, there are also challenges around funding and resources, access to a culturally appropriate workforce and services, racism, and stigma.

Much of the focus of efforts to enhance the appropriateness of mental health services for Indigenous people have been on the cultural competence of staff, but interventions were often framed within Western world views. Fortunately, there is a growing body of literature that has profiled different types of interventions that have more relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The book, Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice (2014) is such an example. As many more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander psychologists enter our professional field, we are developing, demonstrating and sharing our world views.

There is a growing body of work dedicated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing frameworks, research and methodology. In the Elders Report into Preventing Indigenous Self-Harm and Youth Suicide (2015) it was clear from the voices that there are cultural differences between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and that it is essential that these differences are considered, particularly in terms of service provision and delivery. More culturally appropriate ways of providing services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will emerge through working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, when we train and take on our roles as psychologists, we also take on the responsibilities of nurturers, story-holders and knowledge-sharers. We include our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health professionals and our cultural healers in providing the best possible services to improve the wellbeing of our peoples and their communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are essential and can hold the solutions and ways of moving forward, particularly in remote and rural locations.