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.
Resources
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This app is designed to be used by service providers and clients in a client session. It is available in iOS and Android versions and facilitates discussion about: Friends and family who help keep clients strong and healthy Personal strengths relating to spiritual and cultural, physical, family, social and work, and mental and emotional aspects of clients’ lives - represented visually as leaves on a tree Aspects of clients’ lives that take away their strength in the same four areas Setting client-driven goals for change to work on Plans for achieving their goals and steps towards goals It includes screening based on K5 and K10 scales and help-seeking prompts for people who score high levels of psychological distress. A youth version of the AIMhi app, AIMhi-y, is under development but not yet available for download. It is funded by Northern Territory PHN as part of the National Suicide Prevention Trial. Source: Menzies School of Health Research
Guidelines for Best Practice Psychosocial Assessment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Presenting to Hospital with Self-harm and Suicidal Thoughts
Grief is an emotional response to loss, which might include the death of a loved one, loss of health, ending of a relationship, loss of a job, or a loss of cultural connection, such as moving off country. It is important to acknowledge and express those feelings without judgement. Source: 13YARN
This toolkit, designed to support the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander alcohol and other drugs workforce, may also be valuable for mainstream workers supporting Indigenous clients with AOD and social and emotional wellbeing issues. It addresses issues including: Heavy work demands Defining roles and boundaries Role stigmatisation Translating mainstream work practices to ensure they are culturally sensitive A lack of cultural understanding and support Geographical isolation. The toolkit comprises workbooks, case studies and a discussion guide as well a collection of fact sheets for supervisors to support their teams: The complex personal lives of Indigenous AOD workers Indigenous ways of working Rewarding workers Mentoring Recruiting and retaining workers Clinical supervision Developing teams. And fact sheets for workers to prevent stress and burnout: Worker wellbeing – A Guide For Workers Mentoring – A Guide For Workers Clinical Supervision – A Guide For Workers Goal setting – A Guide For Workers. Source: NCETA
Orygen partnered with The Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP), which led the co-design process with community using a participatory action research approach. This guide looks at early warning signs of self-harm, factors that may influence young First Nations people to self-harm, and how to get help, including managing a crisis and injuries. Young Aboriginal people in Western Australia co-developed the guide with an Aboriginal expert advisory group, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health workers, local Elders, and Aboriginal families and communities from across the state. While the guide was co-developed by, and for, Aboriginal people in Western Australia, it may be broadly applicable to First Nations families and communities right across the country.
This fact sheet describes the four elements of the community-wide reliance model – fire, water, land and air – and how they relate to spirit, purpose, belonging, identity, hope, healing and meaning. Source: Northern Territory PHN
Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) project builds on the legacy of the 1986 Women’s Business Report. The Australian Human Rights Commission (the ‘Commission’) and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) have partnered on a national conversation to elevate the voices of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander women and girls. Led by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO, Wiyi Yani U Thagani (Women's Voices) is a multi-year initiative set out to capture what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls consider to be their strengths, challenges and aspirations for change. Throughout 2018, the Commissioner and her team travelled to 50 locations in urban, regional and remote areas across every state and territory. They conducted 106 engagements and met with 2,294 women of all ages. Over 100 submissions and 300 survey responses were also received. Informed by the findings from engagements and submissions, the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices): Securing our Rights, Securing our Future 2020 report was prepared, and published in December 2020. The report is an extensive whole-of-life report that captures the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, the principles they think ought to be enshrined in the design of policy and programs, and the measures they recommend ought to be taken to effectively promote the enjoyment of their human rights in the future.
Nathan Sutherland - one of only two hundred psychologists in Australia who identify as Aboriginal - talks about how to seek support from friends, family, community and healthcare professionals. Source: Desert Pea Media/WNSWPHN
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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The Healing Foundation is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that partners with communities to address the ongoing trauma caused by actions including the forced removal of children from their families.
CATSINaM is the peak advocacy body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives in Australia.
NACCHO represents the Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation (ACCHO) sector, which offers primary health-care to Indigenous communities across Australia
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy
AIPA provides leadership on issues related to the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Guidelines for Best Practice Psychosocial Assessment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Presenting to Hospital with Self-harm and Suicidal Thoughts
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.
Coroner's Court Resources
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