Prof Pat Dudgeon, is a Bardi woman from the Kimberley, and the National Mental Health Commissioner. She is Australia’s first Indigenous psychologist. She says that: ‘Indigenous culture has for a long time had a holistic understanding of mental health’:
Continue reading “Holistic Understanding of Mental Health in Indigenous Culture”
The OECD’s Better Life Index attempts to compare well-being amongst OECD nations using education, housing, environment measures. The Economist has reproduced this graphic, which ranks Australia first, the USA second and Norway third.
On the one hand these types of surveys are useful because they measure social conditions rather than simply material wealth. On the other hand, this particular graphic neglects other socio-economic measures that give a different picture of national well-being.
Continue reading “Measuring Well-Being: Why Health, Gender and Communities Need to be Counted in Surveys”
Indigenous communities in remote areas face problems of access and relevance when it comes to mental health services. In areas such as Darwin and Alice Springs, where mental health practitioners are so far away that they need to be flown in, mental health delivery is costly.
Continue reading “Culturally Relevant Mental Health Services for Indigenous Youth”