Authors: Penny Dale
Year: 2019
Event: 2019 TheMHS Conference
Subject: book of proceedings
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
ISBN: 9780994570260
Abstract: Paper from the 2019 TheMHS Conference by Penny Dale. Published as part of the 2019 Book of Proceedings.
Biography:
Ed Heffernan is Director of the Queensland Forensic Mental Health Service, Stream Lead of the Forensic
Mental Health Group at Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research, and Associate Professor at The
University of Queensland. He is the lead investigator of Partners in Prevention.
Penny Dale and Yasmin Muller are Project Managers for the Indigenous Mental Health Intervention Program,
Queensland Forensic Mental Health Service.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the highest rate of incarceration of any population in the
world and are thirteen times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous Australians. Poor social and
emotional wellbeing (SEWB) and mental illness are endemic among this group. Despite this, there are very
few programs developed with and for Indigenous Australians to address mental health problems in custody
and in transition to the community. In this presentation we describe the findings of culturally informed
research and demonstrate how this translated into meaningful outcomes for Indigenous people in custody
through the development of the Indigenous Mental Health Intervention Program (IMHIP). Our reflections on
the process from research to translation, that facilitated the successful development and implementation of
IMHIP, will also be presented. The prevalence of mental disorder, psychological distress, trauma
experiences and suicidal thoughts and attempts is extremely high among incarcerated Indigenous
Australians. These findings, while adverse, have led to meaningful changes through the development of a
highly successful Indigenous-led model of mental health and SEWB care. Opportunities exist to significantly
improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in contact with the criminal justice
system through culturally informed models of care.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objective 1: The audience will gain an understanding of the Indigenous Mental Health Intervention
Program, and the research that informed it.
Learning Objective 2: This study demonstrates how findings from culturally informed research can be
successfully translated into culturally competent models of mental health and social and emotional
wellbeing care.
References
Heffernan, E., Andersen, K., & Dev, A. (2012). Inside Out – The Mental Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People in Custody Report. Brisbane: Queensland Government
Heffernan, E., Andersen, K., Davidson, F., & Kinner, S. A. (2015). The Family Business – Improving the
understanding and treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Women. Melbourne: Beyondblue
This resource is only available for subscribers. If you have a subscription, please log in. Otherwise, click here to purchase a subscription.