I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land from which I am recording, the Wodiwodi people of the Dharawal nation; acknowledging their elders past, present and emerging.
I wish to also acknowledge those listeners with lived experience in mental health and/or suicide. I extend this to those families, friends, and carers who might be bereaving a loss through suicide.
This week I spoke with a national and internationally recognised leader in Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention, Professor Pat Dudgeon. Pat descends from the Bardi people in the Kimberley’s, having been born and raised in Darwin. If you have had the benefit to meet Pat, you will know how infectious she truly is.
Pat is a fellow former National Mental Health Commissioner, an NMHRC chief investigator for the million minds grants: transforming Indigenous mental health and wellbeing, and she is the director of the Centre of Best practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention. Professor Pat Dudgeon’s work has been immensely influential to the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide prevention and mental health improvement.
This episode is part of the announcement for the university of Sydney’s partnership with the University of Western Australia’s Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention.
The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention was established in 2017 to develop and share evidence about effective suicide prevention approaches for Indigenous people and communities.
Building on the foundation of the earlier Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project, they influence Indigenous suicide prevention policy, practice and research by promoting access to evidence and resources and through advocacy.
The work of the Centre is focused on the rights of Indigenous people and communities to self-determination, and the critical importance of cultural responses to distress alongside clinical approaches.
In this episode we discuss Indigenous mental health and comorbidities. If you or someone you know needs help in their mental health journey, please contact life line on 13 11 14.
MUSIC | SAMSON
EDITOR | PODLIKE
