Two-way approaches to Indigenous mental health literacy

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tricia M. Nagel ◽  
Carolyn Thompson ◽  
Gary Robinson ◽  
John Condon ◽  
Thomas Trauer
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Story Telling ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

This study was designed to provide important new information about relapse prevention in Indigenous 1 people with chronic mental illness. It aimed to explore Indigenous mental health promotion with Aboriginal mental health workers (AMHW) in order to develop strategies for effective mental health intervention. The research was conducted in three remote Indigenous communities in the top end of the Northern Territory with AMHW. Assessment, psycho-education, and care-planning resources were developed with local AMHW through exploration of local Indigenous perspectives of mental health promotion. Qualitative research methods and an ethnographic approach were used to elicit information, and data included key informant interviews, participant observation, music, photography and story telling. The study confirms that Indigenous people in remote communities prefer to use story telling and local language, local artwork and local music to convey health information. It also confirms that family and local practitioners are key cultural informants and that indirect, holistic and ‘two-way’ messages are preferred.

scholarly journals An Approach to Treating Depressive and Psychotic Illness in Indigenous Communities

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tricia Nagel ◽  
Gary Robinson ◽  
Thomas Trauer ◽  
John Condon
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Remote Communities ◽  
Problem Solving Therapy ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

This study is one of the activities of a multi-site research program, the Australian Mental Health Initiative (AIMhi), funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. AIMhi in the Northern Territory collaborated with Aboriginal mental health workers and Northern Territory remote service providers in developing a range of resources and strategies to promote improved Indigenous mental health outcomes. A brief intervention that combines the principles of motivational interviewing, problem solving therapy and chronic disease self-management is described. The intervention has been integrated into a randomised controlled trial. Early findings suggest that the strategy and its components are well received by clients with chronic mental illness, and their carers, in remote communities.

scholarly journals Searching for evidence: what works in Indigenous mental health promotion?

2007 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki Clelland ◽  
Trish Gould ◽  
Elizabeth Parker
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
What Works ◽  
Indigenous Mental Health

scholarly journals Did that Professional Education about Mental Health Promotion Make Any Difference? Early Childhood Educators’ Reflections upon Changes in Their Knowledge and Practices

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Askell-Williams ◽  
Rosalind Murray-Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Health Promotion Initiative ◽  
The Impact

Educators are at the heart of educational reforms, such as the introduction of mental health promotion initiatives into early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Good quality implementation of reforms requires educators to engage in high quality professional learning: If educators have not had opportunities to gain appropriate knowledge and expertise, new initiatives may be poorly implemented and may consequently achieve limited outcomes. This article reports ECEC educators’ perspectives about the impact on their knowledge and practices of the professional education component of the KidsMatter mental health promotion initiative. Educators from 111 ECEC services across Australia contributed a range of types of data, including questionnaires about their knowledge and self-efficacy, feedback about each professional education session, and photo stories about their changed professional practices. Participants indicated that their professional learning led to changed practices in areas such as interpreting children's behaviours, interacting with children, approaching parents, and collaborating with colleagues. Participants’ photo stories illustrate how professional education that focuses on content, active learning, coherence, and collaboration can positively influence knowledge and practices. However, if such gains are to last beyond relatively highly resourced start-up phases of initiatives, professional education needs to integrate with, and draw from, the ongoing availability of other professionals such as guidance and counselling staff, who have complementary knowledge and expertise; be recognised and embedded as a core component of ECEC educators’ roles and their workplace practices; and be culturally and contextually situated. Staff accounts of the impact of their professional learning on their practices can highlight to policy-makers the practical outcomes of strong investments in professional education. Awareness by other professions of the affordances and constraints faced by ECEC educators may contribute to interdisciplinary synergies among the range of professions involved in mental health promotion in educational settings.

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