Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

services, Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agencies and medical and health services.The [1993 National Aboriginal Mental Health] Conference demanded that research into allaspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, be undertaken only withinAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community designed guidelines, including communityparticipation and only with full consent of the particular community, with whom research is to beundertaken (Swan and Raphael 1994 page 35).The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recognised theimportance of Indigenous participation in research design and recommended that‘Aboriginal people be involved in each stage of the development of Aboriginal healthstatistics’ (Recommendation 271(a)). Further, Recommendation 48 provides,That when social indicators are to be used to monitor and/or evaluate policies and programsconcerning Aboriginal people, the informed views of Aboriginal people should be incorporatedinto the development, interpretation and use of the indicators, to ensure that they adequatelyreflect Aboriginal perceptions and aspirations. In particular, it is recommended that authoritiesconsidering information gathering activities concerning Aboriginal people should consult withATSIC and other Aboriginal organizations, such as NAIHO or NAILSS, as to the project.A simple count of people presenting with mental illnesses and disorders isinsufficient. Emotional problems and issues relating to well-being are much broader thanestablished mental illnesses and disorders that are at the extreme of the problems needingto be covered. Moreover the chances of misdiagnosis of Indigenous patients issignificant. Governments which have adopted the national consultancy report WaysForward already recognise these issues.ResearchRecommendation 32: That the Commonwealth Government work with the nationalAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council in consultation with theNational Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) todevise a program of research and consultations to identify the range and extent ofemotional and well-being effects of the forcible removal policies.Indigenous well-being modelsFor Indigenous people ‘health does not just mean the physical well-being of theindividual but refers to the social, emotional and cultural well-being of the wholecommunity’ (Swan and Raphael Ways Forward 1995 page 1).Aboriginal people have a spiritual contact with life as part of being in touch with the land, trees,air and earth. Aboriginal people feel better when they are involved in cultural activities. Thosepeople who stay in the bush and participate in cultural activities seem to be more healthier, onlythe old people become sick through diabetes and high blood pressure … However, not allAboriginal mental health consumers are able to partake in cultural activities. This could becaused through the lack of transport, location, ignorance or reliance on the medical model.Aboriginal Mental Health Consultants and Aboriginal Health Consultants must include culturalactivities as part of their employment in primary health care (Adams 1996 page 30).