The Colonising Effect of Western Mental Health Discourses
Abstract
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are three times more likely to experience high to very high levels of psychological distress than non-Indigenous Australians. However, mental health services are ill-equipped to work with First Nation’s Australians in culturally appropriate ways. The continuing effects of colonisation have resulted in systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, dispossession of land and loss of culture. These have all contributed to lower experiences of social and emotional wellbeing. Through exploring current policies that aim to improve mental health and social and emotional wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples; distinguishing the difference between cultural competence and cultural humility and the need for cultural humility; breaking down the construction of mental illness; and drawing on the Uti Kulintjaku project the need for a new way of thinking about mental health service provision for Indigenous peoples in Australian will be explored.
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