Newsletter date: 15 September 2013
Contents:
* Melissa Sweet, Croakey - the Crikey health blog: How can Croakey readers contribute to efforts to prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicides?
* NACCHO Aboriginal Health news: Today is World Suicide Prevention Day
* CAAMA Radio: World Suicide Prevention Day...
* NACCHO RU OK News: Indigenous youth leading the way in suicide prevention
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Hopelessness in suicide riddled communities
* Background to Suicide and Self-harm in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Communities
* SNAICC News: The voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be allowed to count on child protection
* SNAICC News: Report looks at services for children subjected to trauma
* NACCHO News: Aboriginal health service in NT bringing all community together for mediation forum
* Background to 'Keeping Them Home': Campaign against Forced Aboriginal Adoption in the NT
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: More government neglect of Aboriginal children
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Where governments fail children, others step in
* MELISSA SWEET, CROAKEY - THE CRICKEY HEALTH BLOG: HOW CAN CROAKEY READERS CONTRIBUTE TO EFFORTS TO PREVENT ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER SUICIDES?
- Interviews
Croakey - the Crikey health blog: How can Croakey readers contribute to efforts to prevent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicides?
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2013/09/11/how-can-croakey-readers-co...
11 Sep 13: "Below is a lengthy interview that I did some weeks ago with Professor Dudgeon and Dr Tom Calma, co-chairs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advisory Group. It is also timely to publish it now, in the wake of World Suicide Prevention Day. In discussing the new National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy, Professor Dudgeon and Dr Calma encourage Croakey readers to get involved in its implementation - by tackling racism, by becoming culturally competent, and by developing respectful working partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and peoples." Melissa Sweet
* NACCHO ABORIGINAL HEALTH NEWS: TODAY IS WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY
- News
NACCHO Aboriginal Health news: Today is World Suicide Prevention Day
[NACCHO: National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2013/09/10/naccho-aboriginal-health-newstoda...
10 Sep 13: "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience suicide at around twice the rate of the rest of the population. Aboriginal teenage men and women are up to 5.9 times more likely to take their own lives than non-Aboriginal people," Mr Mohamed said in a recent NACCHO press release
"Let’s talk about what can be done by neighbourhoods and workplaces to identify and support people at risk. Let’s see if we can agree about what is best done by families, what by mental health professionals, what by government agencies. It’s a big ask but let us all think for some moments this week about what we personally can do, and whether there is someone in our personal network who would benefit from a chat about mental stress, or loneliness, or alienation. Doing nothing won’t help. Doing something may."
* CAAMA RADIO: WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION DAY...
- Audio Interview
Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association: World Suicide Prevention Day…
http://caama.com.au/world-suicide-prevention-day
10 Sep 13: "The 10th of September marks the international World Suicide Prevention Day. Jacinta Hawgood, senior lecturer from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention joins Mikaela Simpson to discuss prevention and what can be done to reduce statistics."
* NACCHO RU OK NEWS: INDIGENOUS YOUTH LEADING THE WAY IN SUICIDE PREVENTION
- Video
NACCHO RU OK News: Indigenous youth leading the way in suicide prevention
[NACCHO: National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2013/09/13/naccho-ru-ok-news-indigenous-yout...
13 Sep 13: "This mob are encouraging community members to find a buddy and have regular meaningful conversations to prevent suicide. This is because of the high suicide rates in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population (which can be caused by cultural disconnection, intergenerational trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse etc.) This video was created by 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young leaders from across Australia during the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy’s (NIYLA’s) 2013 National Gathering "
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: HOPELESSNESS IN SUICIDE RIDDLED COMMUNITIES
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Hopelessness in suicide riddled communities
http://thestringer.com.au/hopelessness-in-suicide-riddled-communities/
12 Sep 13: "Suicides are rampant among the 150,000 poorest Aboriginal peoples but many are concerned that next to nothing will be done to address this contemporary predicament. Community leaders are saying that thirty years ago Aboriginal peoples did not endure the rates of suicide they do today. Many remote communities have been neglected by Govenrnments to the point that there is nothing there but people and aimlessness. In Western Australia, rests the sleepy dusty remote Kimberley town of Mowanjum, but which has endured spates of suicides that are world-record high." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* BACKGROUND TO SUICIDE AND SELF-HARM IN ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER COMMUNITIES:
Last updated: 14 August 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/08/13/background-to-suicide-and-self-harm-i...
* SNAICC NEWS: THE VOICES OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE MUST BE ALLOWED TO COUNT ON CHILD PROTECTION
- Media Release
SNAICC News: Media Release - The voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be allowed to count on child protection
[SNAICC: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care]
http://www.snaicc.org.au/news-events/fx-view-article.cfm?loadref=32&id=1200
http://www.snaicc.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/03200.pdf
2 Sep 13: "To mark 2013 National Child Protection Week, SNAICC has launched two major reports that reinforce the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in child protection.
The reports provide further evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in all stages of the child protection process is central to improve decision-making and to reduce the spiralling over-representation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care.
The first report, titled Whose Voice Counts?, looks at whether current legislation, policies and systems are empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to make decisions about the care and protection of their children. ...
The second SNAICC report, produced with the NSW peak body AbSec, profiles a groundbreaking new approach to developing the capacity of Aboriginal out-of-home care agencies in NSW through partnerships with mainstream organisations. ... "
* SNAICC NEWS: REPORT LOOKS AT SERVICES FOR CHILDREN SUBJECTED TO TRAUMA
- News
SNAICC News: Report looks at services for children subjected to trauma
[SNAICC: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care]
http://www.snaicc.org.au/news-events/fx-view-article.cfm?loadref=32&id=1207
3 Sep 13: "A new report by Professor Judy Atkinson has outlined the need the trauma-specific care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children dealing with trauma and its lasting effects. The paper, Trauma-informed services and trauma specific care for Indigenous Australian children [PDF] examines Indigenous children who have been subjected to trauma - including displacement from country, institutionalisation and abuse - and who either continue to, or are unable to, heal the trauma of past events."
- Related News
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Public Health Journal: Report looks at services for children subjected to trauma
http://www.atsiphj.com.au/index.php/atsiphj-news-feed/4076-report-looks-...
2 Sep 13: "A new report by Professor Judy Atkinson has outlined the need the trauma-specific care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children dealing with trauma and its lasting effects."
* NACCHO NEWS: ABORIGINAL HEALTH SERVICE IN NT BRINGING ALL COMMUNITY TOGETHER FOR MEDIATION FORUM
- Media Release
NACCHO member news Press Release: Aboriginal health service in NT bringing all community together for mediation forum
[NACCHO: National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2013/09/09/naccho-member-news-press-release-...
9 Sep 13: "This is the start of a dialogue on a number of issues of concern, primarily violence, but not as an Aboriginal specific issue, but as an issue for the whole community." Congress Deputy CEO Des Rogers
"Tuesday September 10 from 6.30pm until 8.30pm in the Theatrette at Centralian Senior College.
Congress Alice Springs , who are the leading Aboriginal primary health care provider in Central Australia, are holding the forum in partnership with CASSE to promote an interactive dialogue between all groups in the Alice Springs community.
The aim is find solutions that will make the region a happier, healthier, safer environment in which to live and raise a family.
CASSE, which stands for "creating a safe, supportive environment" are partnering with Congress, who also provide extensive social and emotional wellbeing services, to understand and address issues of violence and underlying trauma that currently exist within the community. ... "
* BACKGROUND TO 'KEEPING THEM HOME': CAMPAIGN AGAINST FORCED ABORIGINAL ADOPTION IN THE NT
Last updated: 14 August 2013
http://indymedia.org.au/2013/07/03/background-to-keeping-them-home-campa...
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: MORE GOVERNMENT NEGLECT OF ABORIGINAL CHILDREN
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: More government neglect of Aboriginal children
http://thestringer.com.au/more-government-neglect-of-aboriginal-children/
7 Sep 13: "More than 150,000 of Australia’s Aboriginal people languish in acute poverty, a majority of them in impoverishment not dissimilar to third-world conditions. Who is to blame but our governments, for Australia is the world’s 12th largest economy and per capita the second wealthiest nation. The governmental neglect has led to malnutrition in Aboriginal children, one in every four Aboriginal children. Governments have long known, documented in far too many reports, that these Aboriginal children suffer from poor nutrition, anaemia, iron deficiences at many times the rates of non-Aboriginal children." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: WHERE GOVERNMENTS FAIL CHILDREN, OTHERS STEP IN
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Where governments fail children, others step in
http://thestringer.com.au/where-governments-fail-children-others-step-in/
7 Sep 13: "Glue ear is a problem that plagues Aboriginal children much more so than Australia’s non-Aboriginal children. The neglect of health care by one government after another of Aboriginal communities has led to poor health and myriad ailments of Aboriginal children, which then leads to their development being impeded and hence life-long problems. However, where government fails to sponsor the striving to just outcomes and equality, individuals step in where they can. Dr Ruth Thornton of the University of Western Australia (UWA) School of Paediatrics and Child Health is a part of a team who have been working to address painful ear infections ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
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