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Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing

The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team follows an holistic definition of Aboriginal Health which means that health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual but includes the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community.

The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team follows a holistic definition of Aboriginal Health which means that health is not just the physical wellbeing of an individual but includes the social, emotional and cultural wellbeing of the whole community.

The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team links directly to research teams across the three research focus areas.

It is within the whole community that each individual is able to achieve their full potential as a human being thereby bringing about an improvement in the total wellbeing of their community. This whole-of-life view includes the cyclical concept of life-death-life and that everything is everything and everything is connected.

Beneath this, our team has a commitment to work with the building block of Aboriginal life - family. Where the roles of men and women are key in the growing up of children and young people, as are all family members including Grandparents and Aunties and Uncles and Elders.

The role of Elders is to provide stability and the overarching link across, and within, the family and across other family groups. It is this kinship which gives everyone a place and a relationship to all others and a connection to country. The Elders are a connection between the past and the present and it is through their wisdom and experience that the community takes on the challenges of life.

Our team also recognises that there is an historical backdrop to the relationship between black and white Australia that continues to influence the current and future generations of Aboriginal people.

Today, Aboriginal children and families experience the poorest health and wellbeing of all Australians.

A combination of intergenerational trauma and limitations of past and present health, education and economic policies require a new approach where research can provide both the evidence and means to bring together key stakeholders to resolve complex problems.

The Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Team led by Glenn Pearson (Head, Aboriginal Health Research), Dr Brad Farrant and Dr Carrington Shepherd, has taken an across-program approach to responding to these complex problems drawing on a broad range of research and methodologies bringing together community, government and researchers.

Team Highlights

  • Securing important Category 1 grants in recent years, worth approximately $3m to continue the development of the research program and team.
  • Continued development and application of Participatory Action Research methods with Aboriginal stakeholders, including processes that have brought together over 50 Aboriginal Noongar Elders to discuss and guide our early child development initiatives.
  • Development and conduct of a series of linked administrative health projects, including those conducted with national and international collaborators.

Team leader

Co-Head, Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing

Co-Head of Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing

Team members (15)

Helen Bailey

Helen Bailey

Honorary Research Associate

Nicole Ilich

Nicole Ilich

Research Officer, Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (Our Children, Our Heart) Project

Akilew Adane

Akilew Adane

Honorary Research Associate

Uncle Noel Nannup

Uncle Noel Nannup

Elder/Researcher

Uncle Albert McNamara

Uncle Albert McNamara

Elder/Researcher

Aunty Millie Penny (Walley)

Aunty Millie Penny (Walley)

Elder/Researcher

Aunty Charmaine Pell

Aunty Charmaine Pell

Elder/Researcher

Aunty Doris Hill

Aunty Doris Hill

Elder/Researcher

Aunty Muriel Bowie

Aunty Muriel Bowie

Elder/Researcher

Uncle Allan Kickett Snr

Uncle Allan Kickett Snr

Elder/Researcher

Aunty Oriel Green

Aunty Oriel Green

Elder/Researcher

Kerry Hunt

Kerry Hunt

Elder/Researcher

Moort Dandjoo Kaadajiny

Moort Dandjoo Kaadajiny

(Family Together Learning) Project

Ahmi Narkle

Ahmi Narkle

Volunteer

Aggie Pigram

Aggie Pigram

Community Research Assistant, Bush Tucker and Vitamin D Project

Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing projects

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Featured projects

Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (Our Children, Our Heart) Program

Brings the Aboriginal community(s) of Perth together with service providers & policy makers to improve outcomes for Aboriginal kids and their families.

Bush Tucker and Vitamin D

This five-year project in Western Australia (WA) aims to promote vitamin D sufficiency among Aboriginal people by developing food-based dietary strategies to increase vitamin D intakes and by encouraging safe sun exposure.

Reports and findings

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Pandemic preparedness needs for children with rare diseases and their families: A perspective of COVID-19 experiences

People living with rare diseases had a high risk of negative health outcomes due to COVID-19. Pandemic preparedness will ensure best practice procedures and optimal outcomes during future pandemic events. This paper sought to understand the needs of children with rare diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform preparation for future pandemic and disaster events. First, impacts and outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic on people living with rare disease were identified in the literature.

‘People don't trust those pieces of paper that are provided’: A qualitative study of cultural planning and outsourced out-of-home care services in Western Australia

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be removed at high rates from their families by child protection services, placing them at elevated risk of adverse long-term life outcomes. Cultural connection in out-of-home care is essential for mitigating the impacts of trauma from removal, emphasizing the importance of ensuring that cultural planning is rigorously undertaken. This article explores the provision of cultural plans in an era where out-of-home care services are outsourced by government, but where government holds onto the responsibility for developing cultural plans for children in care.

Justice capital: Delivering equitable outcomes for indigenous children in state care

This chapter outlines the concept of ‘justice capital’. It commences with a discussion of the impacts of colonization on Indigenous people in Australia, with a particular focus on Indigenous children placed in state care systems. 

The Truth Of Our Stories: A mixed method evaluation of Elder and community-led cultural training for out-of-home care agency workers and non-Indigenous foster carers in Australia

Globally, Indigenous peoples have incurred significant harm due to colonisation of their lands. Dispossession of culture, language, family and land, and the historical, systematic removal of children in Australia (the ‘Stolen Generation’), has resulted in evident ongoing negative outcomes in the contemporary lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

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