LIFE News Issue 3, February 2009
Welcome to LIFE News
Welcome to LIFE News – February 2009. In this edition LIFE focuses on suicide prevention in Indigenous communities, taking a look at the latest research and National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS) projects. LIFE also reports on recent initiatives such as Indigenous radio network segments, Suicide Story in Central Australia and much more. LIFE warmly encourages feedback on LIFE News - please contact us with your comments and suggestions.
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Above: participants in the Koori Kids Wellbeing Project surf school, held in January 2009 |
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The Koori Kids Wellbeing Project
The Koori Kids Wellbeing Project in Shoalhaven provides a promotion, prevention and early intervention approach to mental health support and suicide prevention for Aboriginal children aged between 3-12 years. The project continues a varied program of school and community-based initiatives designed to engage the children of Shoalhaven, a rural area on the south coast of NSW.
In January the project ran a 'learning to surf' program in collaboration with the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community's surf club. The program consisted of one-day sessions spread over three weeks, during which a surfing instructor spent an hour with each child and taught them basic surf skills, familiarisation with the environment, and water safety procedures.
'The main part of what we were trying to do is establish parents being involved with their children,' says project officer Andrew van Oploo. 'They get in there and have a go and have some fun.'
Each session attracted more than 50 parents and children, exceeding the program's expectations, and positive feedback was provided on evaluation forms that were filled out by the children. Van Oploo believes the event was a tremendous success.
'You could see the kids enjoying themselves and see the parents enjoying watching their kids participating, which was reward enough,' he says. 'All the responses we got were very positive and the numbers were great.'
There are five key components in the Koori Kids Wellbeing Program. These are:
- cultural awareness - programs in primary schools focussing on building cultural identity and pride;
- Aussie Optimism - mental health education in classrooms;
- individual counselling and psychological support for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties;
- parenting education and support; and
- staff support and training for Aboriginal education officers and other school, health and welfare staff with a focus on child protection, child mental health, Aboriginal mental health and cultural competency.
The Koori Kids project has approximately 60 individual clients but sees up to 200 children per week through parenting, group and classroom education. The project is under constant demand as the area it covers consists of a population of about 100,000, including nearly 1,000 Aboriginal children of primary school age. It provides services that are flexible to the community's needs.
'We were intending to be a promotion, prevention and early intervention project but we ended up providing a fair amount of reasonably intensive counselling and therapy,' says program coordinator Lesley Roxbee.
Koori Kids participants forge relationships with staff members who often become a trusted adult in the child's life.
'It is really gratifying work and at the same time it can be heart breaking,' says Annette Millbank, the Koori Kids Wellbeing Counsellor. 'Sometimes the kids need so much more than we can deliver.'
- For further information about the Koori Kids Wellbeing Program email program coordinator Lesley Roxbee
- Further information about the National Suicide Prevention Strategy can be found here
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The Mt Theo Program
Above: Program founders Johnny Miller OAM and Peggy Brown OAM, who set up the Mt Theo Outstation as a place of respite for petrol sniffers in 1993. |
The Mt Theo Program is a community-based suicide prevention project that was formed to address and reduce petrol sniffing in the community of Yuendumu, situated north-west of Alice Springs on the edge of the Tanami desert.
Founded in 1993 and funded primarily by the Department of Health and Ageing's Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (OATSIH), 2009 heralds an exciting phase in the program's development as it expands and develops core elements of its counselling and mentoring services as a result of extra funding from the Commonwealth Government's Personal Helpers and Mentors Program (PHaMs).
The project runs other culturally sensitive services such as rehabilitation programs at Mt Theo Outstation and the development of peer mentors through the Jaru Pirrjirdi program. The extra funding, which commenced in January, will be invested in areas such as salaries, vehicles and program resources.
'It's really great,' says Mt Theo Outstation coordinator Ruth Bignell. 'It means that our youth mentor, who has been working for purchase orders full time for the last 18 months, will actually get a salary. It also gives us a lot of room to expand other things like training and resource development, not to mention providing a better and more comprehensive service to our clients.'
Beyond the cultural rehabilitation and mentor training provided by Mt Theo elders and Jaru Pirrjirdi, the Mt Theo program has run largely unfunded counselling and mentoring services for the last three years. These services have relied heavily on community interaction and the commitment of a group of mid-20's Warlpiri people and program staff who, says Bignell, 'go above and beyond the normal workload and go out in the middle of the night if necessary, doing outreach and responding to needs.'
Mt Theo's counselling and mentoring initiatives have grown significantly since their inception and the new round of funding is keenly welcomed. These are important elements in the program's structure and form one of its five core components. The remaining four are:
- Theo Outstation (cultural rehabilitation);
- Jaru Pirrjirdi (youth development);
- the Diversionary Youth Program (activities organised by Jaru Pirrjirdi members); and
- Outreach (providing services to other nearby communities).
Bignell began as a volunteer at Mt Theo in 2006 and works mostly at the Outstation, which is largely run by Warlpiri people. The Outstation has a 15-year history of working closely with the Warlpiri community and emphasises the involvement of elders and mentors, who provide a unique form of 'cultural rehabilitation' for the clients there - a service that will be further supported by visits from the counselling and mentoring team.
Jaru Pirrjirdi participants can also be developed as mentors for at-risk peers, providing a unique mentoring opportunity for Warlpiri youth. This process conforms with traditional family, ceremonial and kin system relationships, and results in higher levels of client engagement and positive outcomes. Says Bignell: 'They are the eyes and ears in the community, keeping an eye out for people who might be experiencing trouble or something that might be developing in their lives.'
Since the Mt Theo program began the Warlpiri region has seen a significant decrease in suicide and suicide attempts, as well as a sharp reduction in the culture of petrol sniffing within the community. Bignell says finding housing and stable salaries for employees are great ongoing challenge; she notes, however, that Mt Theo's staff retention rate is very high.
'A lot of remote community organisations struggle to retain staff but we find that we don't really have that problem,' she says. 'We are really proud that our staff make long-term commitments and stick by them.'
National StandBy Response Service
The National StandBy Response Service responds to the needs of people bereaved by suicide in four Australian locations: Brisbane North, Canberra, Cairns, and the Sunshine and Cooloola Coasts. Aiming to reduce adverse health effects and further suicidality, StandBy’s work utilises strong links with Indigenous communities to create unique models of bereavement care for Aboriginal and Islander people. StandBy is a program of United Synergies Ltd and will soon be extended across Tasmania and to the Kimberleys and Pilbara in Western Australia.
StandBy’s ‘outside the square’ initiatives include the StandBy Storyboard. Initiated by the Wujul Wujul community in Cape York in June 2008, the Storyboard was developed after extensive community consultations and assistance from the Far North Queensland Rural Division of General Practice and a Wujul Wujul elder. The Storyboard consists of a collection of magnetic images that pictorially describe experiences of grief and bereavement.
‘Pictures cross all languages,’ says StandBy National Coordinator Jill Fisher. ‘Written materials don’t always speak to all people, as there can be literacy issues and cultural barriers.'
‘The Storyboard approach has proven to be very helpful. It is a powerful learning tool with tactile imagery that can be used by one person or with the whole community.'
StandBy’s approach is supported by the cross-cultural training program ‘Who You ~ Which Way’ (You don't know me - How're you going to help?) developed as part of the ‘StandBy for LIFE’ suite of training programs by Jill Fisher and StandBy’s Cultural Advisor, Travis Shorey, a descendant of the Babaram and Kuki-Yimidirr people from far north Queensland. The training aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the needs of Indigenous communities in regards to grief and loss, particularly in relation to suicide bereavement.
In a recent development Fisher and Shorey are especially pleased to have been selected to deliver their presentation ‘New ways of seeing – suicide, loss and diversity’ to the American Association of Suicidology 2009 Conference in April, given the large numbers of postvention and cultural papers that were submitted.
‘There has been a lot of international interest in StandBy,’ says Fisher. ‘It will be wonderful to be there as part of a community of practice in postvention. It will also be exciting to hear about some of the fantastic work coming out of other places such as Hong Kong, Ireland and the Pacific region.’
In areas of mental health such as bereavement and postvention, Fisher, who has worked in suicide prevention for more than 20 years, believes Australia is well-placed internationally and cites projects such as the LIFE Framework as leading initiatives.
‘For me it is very exciting to see tools that are accessible, particularly for communities and small not-for-profit services,’ she says.
‘We feel we have a great relationship with the LIFE Framework and it’s very exciting for us to be part of all that.’
It is essential that services for Indigenous people acknowledge and respect the cultural differences in communication, understandings about health, and how Indigenous people interact with support services.
The LIFE Fact sheet ‘Suicide Prevention in Indigenous Communities’ provides important information on suicide amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
- LIFE Fact sheet 16 - Suicide prevention in Indigenous communties can be downloaded here
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The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia’s national suicide prevention project is using the large network of radio stations in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to promote greater awareness of mental health and issues related to suicide.
‘A big focus of this project is on providing appropriate information on mental health and suicide prevention to Indigenous audiences,’ says project manager Ian Watson. ‘We know that using radio is a great way to reach this audience, especially in remote communities.’
‘So if you’re in a remote community, no matter what time of day or night it is, you could hear one of these short messages on your local radio station. As a result, we’re hoping Indigenous radio listeners will learn more about services they can access, or support they can offer each other at a community level.’
The project, developed with the support of the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing, seeks to provide suicide prevention and well-being messages to a wide and diverse network of communities nationally.
Each month the project team develops a series of 20 short radio segments designed to promote help-seeking behaviour and positive lifestyle choices, using interviews with service providers, as well as profiles of people who have successfully managed tough times in their lives.
In recent months the project has explored a range of issues of interest to Indigenous audiences such as depression, isolation, the relationship between diabetes and depression, and the role of men’s groups and community support networks. The project team has also profiled a range of Indigenous suicide prevention projects underway around Australia, including the highly innovative SPLASH program, which aims to improve community awareness and attitudes to suicide prevention in 14 to 25-year-old Koori people.
‘In March we’ll be profiling the ‘We Know Our Strengths’ project, which originated in response to a high number of suicide attempts and deaths in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory,’ says Watson.
‘As our project continues, we’re hoping these important messages reach more and more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander radio listeners around Australia.’
- For further information please contact Ian Watson at the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia on (02) 9310 2999 or via email
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By Laurencia Grant
Above (from left): Laurencia Grant, Kristy Schubert, Liz Archer and Charlie Hodgson. |
Laurencia Grant is the coordinator of the Mental Health Association of Central Australia’s Life Promotion Program. The program hopes to trial a new initiative, Suicide Story, from mid 2009 onwards.
The Life Promotion Program was established in 1998 in response to the rate of suicide in Central Australia at that time. As a community development program, it drew on the learnings from around Australia and the Northern Territory to develop a wide range of strategies in collaboration with local service providers. One of the strategies identified as crucial to this suicide prevention program was the delivery of ‘gatekeeper training’ to workers and community members who might encounter people at risk of suicide.
The Living Works ASIST model of training was adopted by the NT in 2001 and the two-day workshop is consistently in demand among the high turnover of community sector workers in Alice Springs. The Central Australian ASIST network was a strong advocate for improving and adapting the training to better meet the needs of Aboriginal people, especially those living in remote regions and town camps. Over time, through their engagement with Aboriginal people and through discussions with other related services, it was decided that the resources and the style of training needed to be further developed. The effort to create more meaningful material was respectful of the people, culture, language and context of people’s lives in Central Australia.
And so Life Promotion, through a community development and action research approach, developed a localised training program with and for Aboriginal people living in remote communities and town camps in Central Australia called Suicide Story. Through listening to the stories of Aboriginal people, the Life Promotion Team has attempted to put together a relevant contextual picture of the issue of suicide.
Some women from Santa Teresa, a community approximately 90 kilometres south east of Alice Springs, painted two banners for World Suicide Prevention Day 2006 and this artwork portrayed a local understanding of some of the causes of suicidal behaviour and ways to care for people who are displaying such behaviour. This artwork and the stories from Santa Teresa feature in Suicide Story. The more ‘impersonal’ statistics and data about suicide need these unique perspectives to sit alongside them. Hopefully the contributions in Suicide Story can remind us that this issue is about raw, real experience and that perhaps our best chance of reducing the rates and the pain of suicide is to keep on finding authentic ways to meet at-risk people.
The aim of this training program is to offer a culturally sensitive approach to an improved understanding of the issue of suicide, as well as improving skills to work with people at risk, and building a sense of hope for Aboriginal communities of Central Australia. We plan to have Suicide Story in a completed form by April 2009, when it will then be trialled in a few remote communities.
Through comparing various training resources and research it became apparent that there were some things about supporting people at risk of suicide that were common to all training programs. These include the following facts:
- talking helps the pain go away;
- suicide is caused by a complex mix of factors;
- people often give signs that they are at risk, but sometimes they don’t;
- there are tipping points or triggers that can put people at risk;
- some people might be more at risk than others and this can be assessable.
Suicide Story is unique because it:
- draws on learnings from specific people living and working in Central Australian and Top End communities;
- acknowledges that suicide is a very recent problem among Aboriginal families in this region;
- explores related issues such as impulsive suicide, suicide as a threat, blame and payback in their cultural and local context;
- recognises the importance of learning through sharing stories from other Aboriginal communities;
- shares learnings through recognisable symbols, images and language;
- acknowledges the lack of formal resources in remote communities and the efforts of families;
- explores the history of social injustice and legislated change and the consequent losses that are relevant to the current problem of suicide;
- is respectful of the different learning styles and preferred learning environments; and
- accommodates varying levels of education and English literacy levels.
- For more information about Suicide Story please contact Laurencia Grant, Life Promotion Program at the Mental Health Association of Central Australia on (08) 8950 4608 or via email
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Do you work with people who may be at risk of suicide? Are you interested in developing your skills and knowledge about suicide prevention? If you are LIFE’s Professional Development Network is for you.
The Professional Development Network gives people from a diverse range of locations and occupations the chance to contribute expertise, network and stay up-to-date with the latest in suicide prevention.
Members can register for free and view and contribute to discussion forums on a variety of topics such as Indigenous suicide prevention, bereavement, risk management and recovery. These forums are the perfect place to workshop ideas, ask questions and share resources. LIFE Professional Development Network members can also participate in live chats with experts in the sector and keep up-to-date on relevant news with email alerts.
Youth suicide and Indigenous language knowledge
Globally, the everyday use of traditional languages by Indigenous people has experienced significant decline during the last couple of centuries. This trend is reflected within Australia, where approximately 11 per cent of Indigenous Australians use an Indigenous language as their primary household language (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2008).
A recent British Columbian study assessed the levels of Indigenous language knowledge (as a measureable indicator of cultural connectedness) as a predictor for youth suicide by a recent British Columbian study (Hallet, Chandler, & Lalonde, 2007).
The findings indicate that groups of people with low language knowledge had a higher rate of youth suicide, and those with higher levels of language knowledge had lower rates of youth suicide.
More specifically, groups with high language knowledge averaged 13 youth suicides per 100,000, which was well below the averages for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth, while the rate of youth suicide for those groups with lower language knowledge was 97 per 100,000.
Overall, the authors concluded that Indigenous language knowledge was a stronger predictor of Indigenous youth suicide than other previously used markers of indigenous cultural identity.
Do you think Australia may benefit if similar research be undertaken to find out whether a similar pattern between Indigenous youth suicide and language knowledge exists? Let us know what you think about this issue in the LIFE discussion forums.
References: Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008a). Year Book Australia, 2008, Cat No. 1301.0. ABS: Canberra, Australia.
Hallet, D, Chandler, MJ, and Lalonde, CE (2007). Aboriginal language knowledge and youth suicide. Cognitive Development 22, 392-399.
Keynote presentation by Diego De Leo
In July 2008 Professor Diego De Leo from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) presented a keynote presentation on suicide in Indigenous Australians at the Queensland Suicide & Self-harm Prevention conference. Titled ‘Suicide in Indigenous Australians: A Psychological Autopsy Study’, the presentation compiled a broad selection of research to discuss Indigenous suicides in relation to demographics, suicide methods, physical and mental illness, drugs and alcohol and life events.
The PowerPoint slides for De Leo’s presentation, which include charts, graphs and case studies, are now available from the Living Is For Everyone (LIFE) Library.
ASPAC communique now available
The first communique from the new Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council (ASPAC) is now available and can be found here.
The Indigenous Strategies Working Group (ISWG) 2009 update
The Indigenous Strategies Working Group (ISWG) provides advice to the Australian Government on Indigenous perspectives around mental health and suicide prevention. Membership consists of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people nominated by peak bodies, Indigenous professional bodies, community organisations and state and territory governments. 2009 looks to be another busy and exciting year for the group; the last ISWG meeting was held on 18-19 November 2008 and the next will be held in March.
ISWG members have recently provided input to an Indigenous adaptation of the Mental Health First Aid Manual and the development of Indigenous elements of the Mindframe National Media Initiative. Items discussed in 2008 include the:
- review of the National Standards for Mental Health Services;
- Council of Australian Governments (COAG) early intervention services;
- National Suicide Prevention Strategy workplan;
- links between the ISWG and the Australian Suicide Prevention Advisory Council (ASPAC).
Appointment to the ISWG is based on experience and expertise concerning the affect of the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Programs on Indigenous communities.
‘I felt very honoured to have been selected to be a part of this group,’ says Roslyn Lockhart, who has been member since the ISWG was formed in 2002 and represents the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses (CATSIN).
‘Members bring different perspectives to the table. They are a group of people with great compassion (and) each voice is valued.’
Lockhart appreciates the passionate work from people within the department and within the ISWG but says ‘I would like to see more Indigenous staff within the department across all programs (and) equality to the percentage in the population.’
The Department of Health and Ageing currently funds 22 community-based NSPS suicide prevention projects, each responding to specific Indigenous needs in accordance with the properties identified in the Living Is For Everyone (LIFE) Framework. The ISWG strengthens and enhances these projects in the following ways by:
- contributing advice on developing strategies;
- providing links and networks to key stakeholders within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; and
- providing input into national plans and ongoing work in strengthening the impact and cultural appropriateness of government and community programs and services.
Key stakeholder organisations and Commonwealth Government agencies are invited to collaborate with the ISWG in order to support a more integrated approach to Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention.
The current ISWG membership includes: Bess Yarram (elder), Michael Bell (HACC Reference Group), Dea Theil (NACCHO), Brian Butler (Aged Rights), Roslyn Lockhart (Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses), Kerry Arabena (AIATSIS), Dr Helen Milroy (Centre for Aboriginal Medical and Dental Health), Joyleen Koolmatrie (Indigenous Psychologist), Scott Wilson (Australian Drug and Alcohol Council), Zell Dodd (Southern Adelaide Health Service C/- Inner Southern Community Health Service), Professor Ernest Hunter (University of Queensland), Mick Adams (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island men’s health and well being) and Adele Cox (ASPAC).
LIFE News focuses on youth and suicide prevention
The fourth edition of LIFE News will feature projects, people and comment focusing on youth and suicide prevention. LIFE Communications encourages input and contributions. If you would like to contribute to this edition, please contact us with your idea.
What would you like to see in LIFE News? What are your thoughts about this current edition? We warmly encourage feedback - please contact us with your comments and suggestions.