Education Service Provider for Health Practitioners: Rural Health Education Foundation

Indigenous Mental Health: An Interview with Professor Ernest Hunter

Duration: 16 minutes

Program ID: 710 | Purchase Price: $105.00 (DVD)

In the course of this 16-minute studio interview with Dr Norman Swan, Professor Ernest Hunter discusses the serious challenges facing Indigenous mental health in Australia. While providing programs or services for specific mental health problems is important, Professor Hunter notes that it is critical to look into the key driving factors.

Issues such as self-harm, violence, petrol-sniffing, and suicide can all be linked to an Indigenous community's general welfare, largely determined by the community's level of autonomy and political control. Professor Hunter makes the point that Indigenous communities need to be supported in finding their own solutions to their problems in a sustained and incremental manner.

This includes more focus on early childhood and education, as education is an essential social determinant of both general and mental health. The recent West Australia Child Health Survey, which is currently the largest Australian study of physical and mental health and educational condition among Aboriginal children, reported poor rates in all three areas. While school retention rates among Aboriginal children are improving, the quality of outcomes has actually fallen from previous generations.

Professor Hunter concludes that it is important to provide culturally appropriate opportunities and means for Indigenous children to be able to build the capacity to negotiate with the wider society.