Aboriginal Mental Health

Last update: 4 September 2009,
by Maureen Bell

The page is divided into a section on Australian aboriginal people, and a second section on other indigenous peoples, and includes the full text of a number of books and reports. You will find further links to sites dealing with aboriginal health issues, including the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, on my public health page

Lists of books and journal articles relating to Aboriginal mental health issues can be found on my bibliographies and reading lists page.

You will find further material in:-
AMI (Australasian Medical Index),
Meditext
This database contains the same information as AMI - Australasian Medical Index, but it also contains full text for a number of publications
ATSIhealth: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Bibliography,
and
ATSIROM : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander CD-ROM

Australia

Aboriginal Mental Health Worker Program. Final Evaluation Report
By G. Robinson and A. Harris. School for Social and Policy Research, Institute of Advanced Studies, Charles Darwin University, August 2006.

All In The Mind - 10 June 2006 - Aboriginal mental health part 1 - Tiwi Islands
All In The Mind - 17 June 2006 - The Long Grassers' legacy - Aboriginal mental health part 2
All In The Mind - 7 July 2007 - Deep listening: working with Indigenous mental distress
Transcripts and audios from All in the Mind, a series on ABC Radio National. Other programs can be found here

Auseinet: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
This site includes a wide range of resources from the Australian Network for Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health (Auseinet).

Counselling Interventions and Indigenous Mental Health
An article from Medicine Australia (MedAu), published by the Northern Rivers Division of General Practice (NSW) Ltd.

Evaluation of the Emotional and Social Well Being (Mental Health) Action Plan
From the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health. A report prepared by Urbis Keys Young, as commissioned by OATSIH, May 2001.

Gunbang ... or Ceremonies? Combating Alcohol Misuse in the Kakadu/West Arnhem Region
By Peter d'Abbs and Trish Jones. Menzies School of Health Research, 1997. (Menzies occasional papers)

Indigenous Australian Alcohol and Other Drugs Databases
Produced by the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology. There are two databases - a bibliographic database, which allows searching for books and journals, and a projects database, which contains descriptions of completed projects.

Measuring the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, January 2009.

NSW Aboriginal Mental Health Policy: Strategy for the Delivery of Mental Health Services for Aboriginal People in New South Wales.
New South Wales Department of Health, Centre for Mental Health, 1997.

Petrol sniffing and the brain: 'petrol blackbella, chuck im la bin' Yilila
The transcript of the ABC Radio National program All In The Mind - 28 January 2006.

Psychiatric Assessment in Remote Aboriginal Communities of Central Australia
A dissertation submitted in August 1997 by Mark Sheldon in part fulfilment of the requirements of the Part 2 examination for the Fellowship of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.

Social and Emotional Well Being Framework 2004-2009
A National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Well Being 2004-2009 is a five year plan to guide the work of the many agencies, both government and non-government, that work towards improving the mental health and social and emotional well being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Prepared by Social Health Reference Group for National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council and National Mental Health Working Group,
2004.

Ways Forward: National Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Mental Health Policy
National consultancy report by P. Swan and B. Raphael. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, c1995.

Other Indigenous Peoples

Aboriginal Mental Health Research Team: Working Papers of the Culture and Mental Health Research Unit on Aboriginal Mental Health (McGill University)
Full text and summaries of reports are available

Aboriginal Mental Health: What Works Best
Prepared by Vicki Smye and Bill Mussell. Mheccu (Mental Health Evaluation and Community Consultation Unit), University of British Columbia, July 2001.

Aotearoa Minds: Maoris Taking on Mental Health - Part 1
The transcript of the ABC Radio National program All In The Mind - 29 May 2004.

Aotearoa Minds: Maoris Taking on Mental Health - Part 2
The transcript of the ABC Radio National program All In The Mind - 5 June 2004.

Ethnopsychiatry and Theories of "the African Mind" [MJM 1997 3: 40-43]
The McGill Journal of Medicine (MJM) provides an international forum for student contributions to the field of medicine.

The Mental Health of Indigenous Peoples: An International Overview
The Mental Health of Indigenous Peoples: An International Overview, by Alex Cohen. Geneva, Department of Mental Health, World Health Organization, 1999.