Indigenous Wellbeing Conference Adelaide
The Indigenous Wellbeing Conference was held at the Adelaide Oval between Monday 24 -Tuesday 25 October and hosted by the Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association. The conference was used to “highlight the importance of empowering our First Nations Australian, Maori and Pasifika Community-Led Change in Social and Emotional Wellbeing”.
Rural and Remote Mental Health contributed to the Moorditj event which opened the conversation around the challenges and opportunities for Australian and New Zealand first nations people. Margaret Saunders, one of our most experienced RRMH Deadly Thinking presenters, spoke on behalf of the organisation about the culturally appropriate response to reduce suicide in Aboriginal Communities.
“There were people from everywhere, professional people talking about prevention and suicide and talking about healing. I especially enjoyed the traditional healer sessions. Most of the gatherings were about programs that have been put in place to prevent suicide, all the organisations were promoting what they were doing from each state and from New Zealand, and what they’ve got in place”, said Margaret.
“I really loved the connection with people who work in the same space, social and emotional well-being and mental health awareness. I delivered the Deadly Thinking program in breakaway sessions, with between 40 – 50 people attending. I had people coming up to me afterwards to speak to me about running a workshop in their areas.”
Australian & New Zealand Mental Health Association CEO, Sam Stewart, was proud of the attendees and what the conference brought to mental health awareness in indigenous communities.
“To have a whole conference focused on Indigenous people, put together by indigenous people and presented by Indigenous people is something we are incredibly proud to be a part of. It was a remarkable meeting with highly passionate and motivated attendees, taking full advantage of the opportunity to connect with colleagues and friends, new and established, learn new things, and contribute to providing better health outcomes for our First Nations communities”, said Sam.
To find out more about our Deadly Thinking program, please click here.
If you know someone who is needing support and wanting someone to talk to, please reach out to the below.
Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
Lifeline 13 11 14
13YARN 13 92 76
