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18 Mental Health ServicesThere is no Aboriginal family that is untouched by this policy. Many Aboriginal organizationstoday attempt to help Aboriginal adults who were ‘removed’ children to patch up their lives. Yeteven today no official recognition is given to what happened. One problem of this blinkeredapproach by officialdom is that much needed support services are not provided to many peoplewho literally ‘live on the edge’ (Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Caresubmission to the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, quoted inN ational Report Volume 2 on page 11).Mental health needsIndigenous mental health is finally on the national agenda. As participants in theNational Mental Health Strategy, States and Territories acknowledge the importance ofthe issue. Some of the effects of removal including loss and grief, reduced parentingskills, child and youth behavioural problems and youth suicide are increasinglyrecognised.The circumstances in which a large proportion of Indigenous people live alsocontribute to experiences of loss and grief and to mental health and related problems.They include poverty and high rates of unemployment, marginalisation and racism. Thiscomplex of factors is noted in the Queensland Mental Health Policy Statement forAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (June 1996) and in the final submission tothe Inquiry by the South Australian Government.Mental health status for all people is the result of a dynamic and interactive process involvingsocial, environmental and life circumstances, as well as biological factors. For Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander people in general, there are significantly higher levels of stress and anxietyin their lives resulting from the consequences of trauma and grief, which are inextricably linkedto mental health and disorder.The history of colonisation of Australia has had a profound effect on Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander people. They have, as a group, experienced considerable trauma in the form ofdispossession of land, removal of children, family separation and displacement, and loss ofculture. In the present day, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to live inconditions of social and economic disadvantage compared with the population as a whole, andexhibit high levels of unemployment, lack of appropriate housing and other basic services.A very significant issue in this context which was highlighted in community consultations is theneed to understand and address grief and loss relating to the social and historical context ofAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life (Queensland Mental Health Policy Statement pages 9-10).Issues relating to socio-cultural determinants, historical and political events, racism, culturalgenocide and communal self-worth all impact on the scope of Aboriginal ‘mental health’. Thearea of Aboriginal mental health is poorly understood; few experts would claim to fullyunderstand the normal Aboriginal psyche or to confidently diagnose deviations … Many of the socalled mental health issues in the Aboriginal Community result from striving to fulfil the