Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing and Suicide Prevention | CSI UWA webinar
Mainstream western approaches to mental health and services have an ongoing history of failing to consider and address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ needs. This include the failure to acknowledge historical and cultural contexts within conceptualisations of mental health and wellbeing. The wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples cannot be understood without appropriate recognition of these important contexts.
As part of the CSI UWA Research Webinar series, this presentation will provide a brief overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and will describe promising initiatives such as the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP).
Emerging from a national consultation, the Centre of Best Practice operates from an anti-colonial viewpoint and is grounded in strengths-based concepts of community ownership and valuing culture. Mental health and wellbeing amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities has become a critical issue and evidence suggests that it is worsening. This concern stems from increasingly high rates of psychological distress, hospitalisation for mental health conditions and most critically, increasing suicide rates.
This presentation will cover work undertaken by the CBPATSISP and will review SEWB, which has emerged as an important concept within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing. This presentation will address how research within the wellbeing and mental health space must be undertaken in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and prioritise the importance of culture in programs and services.
Speaker
Professor Pat Dudgeon AM, a Bardi woman from Western Australia, is a psychologist and professor at the Poche Centre for Aboriginal Health and the School of Indigenous Studies at The University of Western Australia. Her research focuses on Indigenous social and emotional wellbeing and suicide prevention. She is the Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention, and the lead Chief Investigator for the national Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing research project. Professor Dudgeon has served on numerous boards, including the National Suicide Prevention Office Advisory Board, NACCHO Culture Care Connect, Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit Australia) and AIPA, and was a National Mental Health Commissioner for five years. A leading voice in Indigenous mental health, her significant publications include the Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice (2014) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project Report – What the Evidence and Our People Tell Us (2016).
- Date: Tuesday 9 June 2026
- Time: 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm (AWST) - Presentation followed by Q&A
- Online only
- Free event but registration is essential to access the webinar
Find out more about the CSI UWA webinar series.