Indigenous Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Clearinghouse

Accurate data on the suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are important for understanding communities at risk and measuring changes in suicide rates over time. However, Indigenous Australians are often poorly identified in these data. This report identifies suicide relevant key data sets and explores their limitations. It also describes previous and current data enhancement activities and suggests areas for further enhancement.

Healthy connections to community support the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This paper discusses several protective factors resulting from community connection that work to strengthen resilience and social and emotional wellbeing.

[Summary PDF | 2.29MB]

Employment is a protective factor for mental health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This paper provides an overview of policies and programs that address employment and its association with mental health outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

[Summary PDF | 2.51MB]

This paper covers evidence on the importance of housing and homelessness in the improvement
of mental health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It also includes key
information about research, evaluation, program and policy initiatives and outlines limitations and
gaps in the evidence.

[Summary PDF | 2.3MB]

This paper provides a synthesis of relevant information on Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander self-governance in relation to mental health and wellbeing. It also explores the ways
in which self-governance is enabled by Indigenous organisations and how this also contributes to
Indigenous wellbeing.

[Summary PDF | 2.29MB]

Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide have increased over the past decade. Various protective and risk factors can influence suicidal behaviour among Indigenous Australians. These factors need to be considered together in order to fully understand, address and design culturally appropriate responses into the future.

Complex interventions such as suicide prevention initiatives are best evaluated using a realist review and narrative synthesis approach. Such an approach looks beyond whether something works to try to understand what works, in which circumstances, and for whom. This publication looks at the nature of evidence and the value of evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence in the evaluation of Indigenous suicide prevention programs.

[Summary PDF | 2.25MB]

Strengthening connection to family and kin interrupts the transmission of trauma, decreases stress, strengthens identity, and increases resilience among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This publication reviews existing programs and recommends connection to family and kin as a strengths-based approach to suicide prevention.

[Summary PDF | 2.31MB]

There is growing evidence that diet quality and adequate nutrition could improve mental health. Many factors influence the diets of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; for example, colonisation’s disruption to traditional dietary patterns and food sourcing, and the entrenchment of socio-economic disadvantage. As a population group, Indigenous Australians are consuming a diet of low nutritional quality. This publication reviews the nutrition-focused programs that were delivered to Indigenous Australian communities, which also measured emotional wellbeing and mental health outcomes.

[Summary PDF | 2.3MB]

While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people feel more culturally safe in services delivered by Indigenous mental health workers, they are underrepresented in the mental health workforce. This publication reviews the evidence of what works to improve the retention and advancement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health workers. 

[Summary PDF | 2.1MB]