Australian first looks at Indigenous Mental Health

The University of Southern Queensland (USQ) is proud to offer Australia's first Graduate Certificate in Indigenous Mental Health and Well-Being from 2007.

The qualification will provide skills for the challenging and socially important work in Indigenous Mental Health.

Ron Hampton works at the Kumbari/Ngurpai Lag Higher Education Centre at USQ and says the program aims to provide clinical practitioners with the skills and knowledge required to interact with, and treat, Indigenous Australians, both Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, who may be suffering from mental health problems and disorders.

'Health outcomes should be looked at in a holistic manner. You can't treat people in isolation from their culture, so you need to understand their culture and their background and the way they respond to various treatments. This may mean that the treatments used in Queensland won't work in WA.'

Based on this premise, USQ has developed four courses in the program that will be delivered externally through the University's Distance and e-Learning Centre.

'Here at Kumbari,  we started to look at Indigenous Australian mental health programs in 2002/03 and it's taken to now to develop something that gives Indigenous and non-Indigenous practitioners scope to expand their cultural understanding.

'We have four courses on offer including one in Indigenous Australian Cultures and Communities that looks at traditional issues and the variety of Indigenous communities across Australia,' said Mr Hampton.
As part of this course students will look at a variety of topics including kinship, languages and land affiliation.

'A major focus on this course will be to emphasise that there is difference and variety in Australian Indigenous cultures.

'To assume that all Indigenous Australians are alike is similar to saying that, if you are Belgian, you should know everything about Europe – there is no single Indigenous culture and people need to understand that.'

The other courses on offer are Concepts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, Indigenous Australian Mental Health Today and Culturally Appropriate Intervention Strategies in Indigenous Mental Health.

'Health workers need different skills for working with Indigenous clients as opposed to mainstream clients. This subject will look at culturally appropriate intervention strategies in relation to major issues such as substance abuse and dependence, suicide, psychotic disorders, anxiety and depression,' Mr Hampton said.

Media Contact: Amy Cass, USQ Media, +61 7 4631 2092 or +61 412 097 326