Aboriginal people have a unique and diverse culture with an interesting and rich history. Today, the impact of how they have been colonized, how legislation take place and their stolen generation created the hardships that until now made an impact with these people and their mental health.
Mental health discussion in the aboriginal or indigenous communities, have been a sensitive matter to take into for the past years. However, today Mount Gambier Health Organization happily says that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities welcomes and is receiving mental health discussions.
David Copley, New Chief Executive of Pangula Mannamurna Aboriginal Health Services said that times are changing and with the present condition of having difficulty in finding a trained Aboriginal trained professional, now communities are no longer afraid of the shame of mental health the way they responded in the past.
Copley added this is something that we haven't discussed so much in the public before, but now they are getting better responses. The more it becomes a norm, the more they are open with it.
In the South of Australia, the Kaurna Peramangk man is the only male indigenous mental health nurse.
Copley stressed that the health service has been better equipped to serve the southeast community after a senior social worker gained additional qualifications. In this way, the doctors now have been enabled to address mental health referrals to the facility. He added it gives them the exact person who is aware of the cultural needs of these types of people and who have worked in the specific field.
Moreover, Copley together with his team took a long time for them to support their staff members in honing them through cultural, vocational, mental and family skills training. Despite of the long process, he had high hopes that their staff would gain higher and deeper qualifications.
He would like to see more of their mental health practitioners go through the same process and savor and get that experience, the skills, of how to work with Aboriginal people so that they can provide more case management, better client services.
