Aboriginal Mental Health Programs - Indigenous Psychological Services

Community Intervention Programs

IPS has been involved in the development, delivery and evaluation of Aboriginal specific mental health intervention programs since 2002 with the aim of addressing the disproportionate rates of mental illness within rural and remote Aboriginal communities. IPS has increased it's capacity to deliver these programs in the past two years through the identification of a number of highly skilled consultants who have been trained in IPS' unique programs. It is the intention of IPS to continue to develop this capacity via the identification of more consultants Australia wide and therefore ensure a greater level of delivery into remote Aboriginal communities.

Whilst IPS has provided a significant amount of work in the area of suicide prevention, programs have also been delivered across other areas such as trauma management, anger management, conflict resolution, family violence and so forth. IPS has continued to demonstrate the success of their programs in a field which has very few success stories to telll and particularly given that delivery occurs into the most complex and chronically affected communities Australia. The level of response that IPS achieves in these communities is at a level that is enviable and unmatched in the field. The most notable achievements include:

Download the summary report of the results of IPS' Whole of Aboriginal Community Suicide Prevention Forums
IPS has also delivered Trauma Management Programs into Aboriginal Communities. A summary report of outcomes will be available soon!

RECOGNITION FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FIELD

IPS and particularly, Dr Tracy Westerman have received significant recognition in the field generally, however, just specific to community based Aboriginal mental health intervention programs, the following are of particular note:

In 2005, the Canadian government sent a delegation to Australia specifically to explore the innovative approaches to suicide prevention that IPS have developed in Aboriginal Australian communities and recommended a similar approach to address high rates of Inuit suicides in Canada. Download the report here.

The Suicide Prevention Australia LiFE award as “Emerging Researcher” for contributions to Indigenous suicide prevention in 2006,
The Canadian Health Report (2009) reviewed mental health programs across New Zealand, Canada and Australia named the Westerman Aboriginal Symptom Checklist - Youth (aged 13-17) as the only uniquely developed and scientifically validated mental health screening tool for Aboriginal youth worldwide. It was recognised as a “significant contribution” to the field of Indigenous suicide internationally,
International Keynote Speaker specifically on Indigenous Suicide Prevention to the following international audiences:
- Inaugral Circumpolar Suicide Prevention Conference, Nunuvut, Canada in 2003
- Suicide Prevention Conference, Nome, Alasksa, United States, 2004
- The Suicide Prevention New Zealand (SPINZ) Conference, Wellington, New Zealand in 2009. View a video interview with Dr Westerman and SPINZ organisers here.

ACHIEVEMENTS FOR 2009 - 2010

IPS received funding under the Department of Health and Ageing's (DOHAs) National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS) for the FIRST time since its inception. This funding ran from 2009 to 2010 and was the result of one year of government, non-government and private sector lobbying by IPS on behalf of communities Australia wide who had approached IPS with distressing stories of entrenched trauma as a result of suicides and other critical events that had not received adequate responses often due to remoteness from available services. IPS continues to receive calls from community members and services Australia wide seeking access to IPS' highly successful programs.

MULLEWA, MOWANJUM AND LAVERTON, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The NSPS funding which ceased in 2010 enabled a THREE stage whole of community intervention program into the communities of Mowanjum, Mullewa and Laverton. Each stage targetted the 'whole community' which is essentially focused upon; (1) Aboriginal youth suicide intervention; (2) Aboriginal community (separate men's and women's programs) psycho-educative program, and (3) service provider skills training which focuses on the development of Aboriginal mental health cultural competencies in its implementation. The NSPS funding resulted in the following broad results being achieved by IPS:

NINE distinct interventions achieved over a nine month period into Mullewa, Laverton and Mowanjum communities to service providers, Aboriginal community members and Aboriginal youth
A combined total of 377 individuals were provided with direct intervention services as a result of IPS programs. This included a combined total of 113 participants for the Mowanjum community; 161 participants from the Mullewa community and 103 from the Laverton community.
Importantly, there were consistent large improvements in skills, attitudes and beliefs attached to the management and intervention of programs into Aboriginal communities based on pre and post test measures. Download a summary report of results here.
IPS also received significant support from the Mullewa community and service providers via letters of support which have been used to lobby for further funding of IPS' work into Mullewa. IPS has to date been unsuccessful in these attempts. We do however continue to receive regular calls from the Mullewa community for an extension of IPS' programs. Download the letters of support here.

MOWANJUM AND NHULUMBUY, NORTHERN TERRITORY

In 2010, IPS had the privelledge of being invited by the Mowanjum and Gove communities to deliver our Aboriginal Specific Whole of Community Mental Health Intervention Programs. The first of these was in Maningrida in February and the second was in Gove in November, 2010. The delivery of these programs were made possible by the Malabam Health Board (Mowanjum) and Miwatj (Nhulumbuy) who identified funding for the forums. Their work to ensure the success of the forums cannot be expressed sufficiently. The work in these communities was made all the more significant due to two of our consultants, Steve Raymond and Daniel Mullholland originally being from these communities. Their grass roots training in mental health began as a result of a number of extraordinary individuals who had effectively decided to develop their own mental health service without government funding or any recognition outside of that of their own communities. The pride that was evident for Daniel and Steven to be able to 'give back' to the communities who had given them so much was truly a humbling experience for the whole team!

A report on the outcomes from these forums will be available soon!

TABULAM, NEW SOUTH WALES

Information on this program will be available soon!