Aboriginal Healing,
Sharing Culture |
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"The reason for creating the Report is that too often, the voices of community leaders are lost amongst the views of professionals, bureaucrats and other people in positions of power who bring their own perspectives to consulting with communities, analyzing problems, developing policies and prescribing solutions." Max Dulumunmun Harrison
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"A lot of young people are still trying to identify themselves as to who they are. They have been cast aside from the mainstream and they see themselves as no good. When you are nobody, what’s the use of living? That’s when our people turn to alcohol and drugs to forget about what has been going on." |
The Elders Report is a seminal publication that emphasises the need to connect indigenous people in Australia to their culture in order to reduce youth self-harm and suicide.
On this page, I include the Report Summary as it appeared. In attached pages, I have selected excerpts from Mick Gooda’s ‘Forward’ and Professor Pat Dudgeon’s ‘Introduction’. I have also included key statements from Elders based around the northern part of Australia. ‘The Elders’ Report into Preventing Indigenous Self-harm & Youth Suicide was produced between 2012 and 2014 by Indigenous led social justice organisation People Culture Environment in partnership with Our Generation Media. It was developed in response to a massive and unprecedented increase in Indigenous youth self-harm and suicide that has occurred over the past 20 years across Australia’s Top End. Over this 20 year period the incidence of youth suicide in these communities went from being an extremely rare phenomenon, to one where the rate of Indigenous youth suicide is now the highest in the world. The Australian Bureau of Statistics states for young Aboriginal men, the rate is 4 times higher than their non- Indigenous counterparts, whilst for young Aboriginal women the rate is five times higher. In some remote communities in the Kimberley, spates of suicide have reached 100 times the national suicide average. In the Australian Government’s own report, Gone Too Soon, into youth suicide in the NT, published in 2012 states: “The suicide rate for Indigenous Territorians is particularly disturbing, with 75 per cent of suicides of children from 2007 to 2011 in the Territory being Aboriginal.’ |
"The Elders’ Report into Preventing Indigenous Self-harm and Youth Suicide brings together the voices of Elders and community leaders from across affected communities that wished to speak publicly about the causes and solutions needed to address this issue.
The reason for creating the Report is that too often, the voices of community leaders are lost amongst the views of professionals, bureaucrats and other people in positions of power who bring their own perspectives to consulting with communities, analyzing problems, developing policies and prescribing solutions. In this Report the voices and views of speakers are unaltered. The Report is a transcription of interviews held with 31 Elders and Community representatives from over 17 communities. Each speaker was asked two primary questions:
> Foreword & Introduction |