A research team led by Professor Charlotte de Crespigny is
demonstrating the value of long-term research partnerships in
Aboriginal health with Aboriginal research partners in the Eyre
region of South Australia.
The work is aimed at establishing better capacity, integration
and coordination of key health services in communities across the
region, focusing on Aboriginal mental health, including drug and
alcohol problems.
Professor de Crespigny's team includes Helen Murray and Dr Inge
Kowanko, and their long-term Aboriginal partners include Jackie
AhKit, Chief Executive Officer of Port Lincoln Aboriginal Health
Service, and Colleen Prideaux, Chief Executive Officer Ceduna
Koonibba Health Service. Another great supporter and adviser is
Alwyn Chong from the Aboriginal Health Council of South
Australia.
The team's current projects in the areas of mental health/drug
and alcohol issues are multi-faceted and have been developed out of
previous successful work with Aboriginal community-controlled
health services partners in South Australia. Their work has now led
to other Aboriginal groups requesting involvement in various
activities including targeted training in areas such as safe
medication management in community settings and alcohol/drugs and
mental health co-morbidity.
As a direct outcome of the team's research and in response to
community requests, intensive training programs have been developed
and implemented for Aboriginal health and community workers in
rural/remote areas and metropolitan Adelaide. Some programs double
as accredited topics in Flinders University's Postgraduate
Certificate in Health—Alcohol and Other Drugs. Two
particularly successful courses, Alcohol and Other Drugs and Mental
Health Comorbidity, and Emergency Mental Health and Alcohol and
Drugs, have attracted many Aboriginal health, substance misuse,
social and emotional wellbeing and community workers.
Selected non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal health professionals with
the necessary expertise teach both of these programs. The classroom
is a deliberate mix of non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal participants
to reflect the underlying philosophy of building partnerships and
supporting people to work together.
Another initiative is the provision of 'hands on' local skills
training in safe care of intoxicated people for Mobile Assistance
Patrols (MAP) and the Sobering Up Units (SUU) (dry out
centres).
Coordinating and linking all key services involved in the mental
health area in a community is Professor de Crespigny's main focus.
She organises conversations between all areas of local Aboriginal
and non-Aboriginal service provision plus metropolitan groups to
facilitate thinking about what can be achieved together, to listen
to their input and find practical ways of reducing the barriers to
well-coordinated healthcare of Aboriginal people. An effective and
less daunting way of doing this is to identify an agreed focus that
requires all key players' involvement and find a way to manage this
collaboratively through pooling resources and efforts more
effectively.
Professor de Crespigny's team is a valued resource and strong
advocate for Aboriginal input at all levels of the mental heath
agenda, for example, ensuring a significant contribution from
Aboriginal voices was included in the recent review of the South
Australian Mental Health Act.
From CRCAH Annual
Report 2004/2005
For more information go to Coordinated
Aboriginal Mental Health Care project
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