WGAR News: Aboriginal suicide rates: A compilation by Jens Korff of Creative Spirits

Newsletter date: 18 November 2014

WGAR News Public Google Group: https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en-GB#!forum/wgar-news
WGAR News - Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

Contents:

* Compilation: Jens Korff, Creative Spirits: Aboriginal suicide rates
* Analysis / Opinion: The Stringer: "Get out of the way" & Aboriginal suicide rates will drop
* Analysis / Opinion: Dr Paul Brown, The Stringer: Aboriginal suicide
* Analysis / Opinion: Natasha Robinson & Andrew Burrell, Sovereign Union: A nation is shamed when a child sees suicide as the solution
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, Indymedia Australia: Depression and suicide prevention must be top of the agenda this century
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Kimberley suicide rate, one of the world’s highest - Yiriman is the way to go
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: My Country - but look how I am forced to live
* Analysis / Opinion: Professor Pat Dudgeon & A/Professor Roz Walker, APO: Suicide trends in WA - an urgent call to action
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Redneck agenda to close down communities
* Analysis / Opinion: Gerry Georgatos, Indymedia Australia: World Suicide Prevention Day - suicide takes more lives than war
* Background to Suicide and Self-harm in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Communities

- Compilation

Creative Spirits: Aboriginal suicide rates
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/aboriginal-suic...
Last updated 8 Nov 14: "Suicide was unknown to Aboriginal people prior to invasion. Appalling living conditions and past traumas have led to a suicide rate that by far exceeds that of non-Aboriginal people.
In this article:
* Selected statistics
* "Death is our life"-Aboriginal suicide is at crisis levels
* Australia’s Aboriginal suicide epidemic
* Why do Aboriginal people kill themselves?
* Effects of suicide
* Overcoming the suicide crisis" By Jens Korff

Who am I? - About Creative Spirits
http://www.creativespirits.info/about.html
"I am a curious and creative person of Australian-German descent. This site is home to my various creative activities including writing, photography and poetry. It's main focus is now Aboriginal culture. This site is not about me. It's about things you can explore and learn about. I hope you enjoy this website. If you feel you should tell me something, just drop me an email to the address provided below. Be curious. Always. It's a spice of life." Cheers, Jens

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: "Get out of the way" & Aboriginal suicide rates will drop
http://thestringer.com.au/get-out-of-the-way-aboriginal-suicide-rates-wi...
16 Nov 14: "Please return our son because my wife cannot go on without him, she will suicide, please return our son," wrote a Noongar father and husband to the Western Australian Government's Chief Protector in 1905.
"The fundamental issues which underpin suicide rates nationally vary from cultural group to cultural group, geopolitically and demographically. The fundamentals that underpin suicide rates of some First Peoples communities are vastly different to those of non-Aboriginal communities. The Western Australian Government’s recent statements that 100 to 150 remote Aboriginal communities should be closed makes it clear that lessons from the past have not been learned. ... " By The Stringer
"Declaration of conflict of interest - the author of this article, Gerry Georgatos is a suicide prevention researcher and a senior national consultant to the ATSISPEP (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project)"

Gerry Georgatos - The Stringer
http://thestringer.com.au/gerry-georgatos-contributing-editor-and-journa...
19 Feb 13: "Gerry Georgatos is a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, and a multi-award winning investigative journalist. In 2011, he left a management background and the tertiary sector and found himself called upon to contribute as a journalist, predominately for the National Indigenous Times, where his sustained coverage of stories led to positive outcomes and in 2012 won four national awards. ... "

The Stringer homepage: http://thestringer.com.au/

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Aboriginal suicide
http://thestringer.com.au/aboriginal-suicide-9001
2 Nov 14: "I have just returned home to Melbourne from working as a locum consultant psychiatrist at Alice Springs Hospital. I also work in research. My field is suicide. Over the last decade, I have developed a theory of suicide which centres on violence and secularisation. I believe that subjects are mostly either driven or abandoned to suicide. I call this nemesism. In Aboriginal culture, the equivalent of secularisation is Westernisation. ... Over the last year, my views on suicide have been reinforced by my first-hand experience as a veteran psychiatrist accessing Aboriginal and non-indigenous communities in WA, Victoria, Queensland and NT. ... " Dr Paul Brown, The Pierre Janet Centre, Melbourne

- Analysis / Opinion

Sovereign Union: A nation is shamed when a child sees suicide as the solution
http://nationalunitygovernment.org/content/nation-shamed-when-child-sees...
8 Nov 14: "Remote Australia is in the grip of a suicide epidemic that is taking the lives of children as young as eight years old, with Aboriginal towns in the Kimberley now suffering the highest rates of suicide in the world."
"As the West Australian port city of Geraldton buried 11-year-old Peter Little, who was found hanging from a tree in nearby bush by another child, indigenous leaders called for urgent action to address a growing crisis that will see as many as one in 12 Aboriginal deaths caused by suicide." Natasha Robinson and Andrew Burrell

- Analysis / Opinion

Indymedia Australia: Depression and suicide prevention must be top of the agenda this century
Indymedia Australia: https://indymedia.org.au/2014/09/07/depression-and-suicide-prevention-mu...
The Stringer: http://thestringer.com.au/depression-and-suicide-prevention-must-be-top-...
7 Sep 14: "Courtesy of The Stringer - http://thestringer.com.au/ - Nearly one million people the world over die by suicide each year according to the World Health Organisation. The World Health Organisation stated that in 2012 there were 803,000 reported suicides. The real number is likely to be closer to double. In general, suicide takes more lives than war. But what leads to suicide? In understanding the first ever World Health Organisation report on suicide the major cause is depression. ... " By Gerry Georgatos, a researcher in premature deaths, unnatural deaths, suicides and suicide prevention

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Kimberley suicide rate, one of the world’s highest - Yiriman is the way to go
http://thestringer.com.au/kimberley-suicide-rate-one-of-the-worlds-highe...
4 Oct 14: "I pay my respects to the Traditional Custodians and acknowledge Elders past, present and future across the lands in which I work and live. "We are now picking up the pieces of our loves ones." "How many suicides, how many more deaths will it take to open our eyes, and open our ears to the silent screaming that is coming from the hearts, and souls of those who are gone, and of those who grieve and keep screaming 'Help…'" said Kabi Kabi Elder, Cheri Yavu-Kama-Harathunian." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: My Country - but look how I am forced to live
http://thestringer.com.au/my-country-but-look-how-i-am-forced-to-live-8627
29 Sep 14: "One Mile Community reminds me of South Africa’s town camps, where people were, and many still are, corralled in acute poverty. The apartheid-like, third-world-akin One Mile Community is only one mile from the town centre of Broome. The contrast between this shanty town and the predominance of tourist mecca Broome is disturbing. There is no place for such racism in this country but in fact it is all too common. In particular, the two wealthiest regions on this continent, Western Australia and the Northern Territory are littered with these deplorable corrals." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- Analysis / Opinion

APO: Suicide trends in WA - an urgent call to action
http://apo.org.au/files/Resource/medicus_journal_article_suicidetrendsin...
16 Sep 14: "The Australian Government has recently funded the University of Western Australia (working with the Centre for Research Excellence in Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing, Telethon Kids Institute) to undertake the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP). This project will evaluate the effectiveness of existing suicide prevention services and programs in reducing suicide and suicide ideation in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The need for this comprehensive,
national evaluation project is clear and urgent." Professor Pat Dudgeon and A/Professor Roz Walker

- Analysis / Opinion

The Stringer: Redneck agenda to close down communities
http://thestringer.com.au/redneck-agenda-to-close-down-communities-9063
15 Nov 14: "The Western Australian Government’s move to close down up to 150 of 274 remote communities has been labelled redneck racism. It is the ugliest act of racism to be seen in this nation in 70 years, with many fearing that it will pale the ugly racism of the Northern Territory ‘Intervention’. Elders, advocates and former politicians are warning the State Government to not close down the communities of First Peoples, that to do so will lead to a further spiral of suicides, despair, homelessness, to irreparable trust issues between First People and Governments but also to hate." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist

- Analysis / Opinion

Indymedia Australia: World Suicide Prevention Day - suicide takes more lives than war
Indymedia Australia: https://indymedia.org.au/2014/09/06/world-suicide-prevention-day-%E2%80%...
The Stringer: http://thestringer.com.au/world-suicide-prevention-day-suicide-takes-mor...
6 Sep 14: "This story is reproduced from The Stringer - http://thestringer.com.au/ - September 10 is World Suicide Prevention Day. ... Suicide is also underreported and underestimated, with many suicides unclassified because of inconclusive findings by coroners, and because many suicides have not been reported to various authorities as suicides and instead have been reported as accidents. Disadvantaged communities include minority groups, different language groups, impoverished communities, and these factors are more pronounced in remote living communities." By Gerry Georgatos, a researcher in premature deaths, unnatural deaths, suicides and in suicide prevention

- Background

Background to Suicide and Self-harm in Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Communities

Last updated: 31 May 2014

http://indymedia.org.au/2013/08/13/background-to-suicide-and-self-harm-i...

- - -

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

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