Clinicians and Front-line Workers – Manual of Resources for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention

Clinicians & Front-line Workers

Resources for Clinicians & Front-line Workforces

Clinicians, including psychologists, psychiatrists, emergency medicine specialists, GPs and nurses, have important roles to play in supporting the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and in preventing suicide.

Other front-line workers who provide services to Indigenous people can also make essential contributions. Social workers, youth workers, and any staff who support community programs and services, need to understand how Indigenous people may exhibit distress and how to respond to individuals, families and whole communities.

For some professionals, supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s mental health and social and emotional wellbeing will be part of their education, training and supervision. For many others, their development in these domains will occur in the workplace, with limited formal oversight.

All workforces need to understand how to work with Indigenous people in a culturally responsive and safe way that supports positive and trusting relationships.

This section of the Manual includes resources that apply in all these situations.

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Resources

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Using Aboriginal cultural knowledge systems to strengthen families’ resilience

One hour e-learning course for practitioners who work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities. It has been developed with the support and guidance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to develop the knowledge and skills required to support families’ resilience. Source: Emerging Minds

ATSISPEP: Maps and Visual Insights

Stronger Together

This resource kit gives advice to families and friends about how to support someone who is struggling. It includes: - Video stories - Written stories - A guide to having a conversation with someone in distress Source: RUOK

13YARN Understanding Trauma Fact Sheet

This fact sheet is designed to help mob better understand the five main types of trauma - acute, chronic, complex, secondary and intergenerational - how they may look and feel, and coping strategies. Source: 13YARN

Be Deadly Online

A collection of resources for people and agencies working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, to help advise them about safe and appropriate online interactions. These co-designed videos and posters address topics including: Bullying Sexting Respect Source: eSafety Commissioner

Working with First Nations families and children – A framework for understanding

1.5 hour e-learning course designed to assist non-Aboriginal practitioners to develop the skills and understanding to build genuine partnerships with First Nations children, families and communities. Source: Emerging Minds

iBobbly

iBobbly is a social and emotional wellbeing self-help app for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over. Using iBobbly for six weeks has been shown to reduce depression, distress and suicidal thinking. Based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and co-designed with young people in the Kimberley, the app helps people to recognise troubling thoughts and responses, and apply more positive thinking and behaviours. Source: Black Dog Institute

Stolen Generations Resource Kit for Teachers and Students

Resources for teaching Indigenous and non-Indigenous students from kindergarten to Year 9 about the Stolen Generations and the continuing consequences of colonisation and intergenerational trauma, including: Video interviews with Stolen Generations survivors Lesson plans A home learning kit for students to work with their families Posters and visuals Source: Healing Foundation

Policies & Position Statements

From Clinical and Peak Groups

This section of the Manual outlines the policies and positions of key groups in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s mental health and social and emotional wellbeing, highlights the commitments of these groups to improving outcomes for Indigenous people, and describes the expectations on their members.

Professional bodies and sector peak organisations have a strong influence on how their members practise. This is true at an individual level, in terms of professional standards and continuing professional development. It also applies at an organisational level, as service providers influence and are influenced by the collective decisions of peak groups.

Australia has multiple Indigenous organisations which focus holistically on the health, mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and/or on the education and employment of Indigenous people in health professions.

Mainstream clinical professional representative organisations may be less focused on and/or less capable in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The intersection between clinical and cultural support may sometimes be a particular challenge for mainstream clinicians.

Published policies and positions with regard to the mental health and social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from both groups are summarised here.

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National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy

Coalition of Peaks

The Coalition of Peaks is made up of more than 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak and member organisations across Australia that have come together as an act of self-determination to work with Australian governments on a new National Agreement on Closing the Gap, agreed in 2020.