Indigenous Trauma Intervention Research in Canada: A Narrative Literature Review

Contemporary Indigenous mental health research is beginning to address colonization, contextualizing Indigenous health within a history of colonial relationships and inadequate mental health responses. In practice, however, dominant counselling models for mental health in Canada have neglected Indigenous perspectives and there is a paucity of research regarding interventions that address psychological trauma with Indigenous populations. We identified 11 Canadian studies that employed culturally appropriate trauma interventions within Indigenous communities. We discuss the findings in relation to the study participants, outcomes reported, and research design. Recommendations are provided to address the need for evidence-based trauma interventions that have efficacy for Indigenous people in Canada to address Indigenous historical trauma.

Effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid Kit for Depression and Psychological Well-being in Adolescents

Background: Psychological state for youth not just impacts physical wellness at the moment, but also in potential lives. One of the major setbacks with adolescents developing depression in India is that most of them are unaware of the situation and majorly receive therapeutic help after the situation turns chronic in nature. Mental Health First Aid explains how symptoms of mental disease should be recognized and managed. Objectives: To develop, evaluate and validate the Mental Health First Aid Kit for depression among adolescents and their psychological well-being. Materials and Methods: For this community approach study, the teachers from the selected schools at Wardha city will be trained as potential volunteers to conduct this experimental trial with the scholar. The efficacy of Mental Health First Aid Kitwill be assessed by using various scale. The pre and post values obtained will be subjected to statistical analysis. Expected Results: The development of the proposed indigenous Mental Health First Aid Kit would facilitate positive outcomes in primary assistance to adolescents with mental health concerns. Conclusion: The results of the proposed study will be helpful to encourage the adolescent individual to identify and seek primary care until a more definitive medical diagnosis and treatment is availed.

Addressing Inequities in Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing through Transformative and Decolonising Research and Practice

Aim: This paper discusses the current mental health and social and emotional wellbeing in Indigenous Australian mental health and wellbeing, the gaps in research, the need for transformative and decolonising research and practice, and the opportunities and recommendations to address existing mental health inequities. Method: This paper reviews key mental health and social and wellbeing policy documents and frameworks, and examines relevant literature documenting current decolonising strategies to improve programs, services and practice. It also draws on the key findings of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) and Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing research projects. In addition this work builds on the substantial work of the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) which outlines a range of solutions to reduce the causes, prevalence, and impact of Indigenous suicide by identifying, translating, and promoting the adoption of evidenced based best practice in Indigenous specific suicide prevention activities. Discussion and Conclusion: This paper details the challenges as well as the promise and potential of engaging in transformative and decolonising research and practice to address the existing health service inequities. Acknowledging and addressing these health inequities is an urgent and critical task given the current COVID-19 pandemic and potential for further increasing the adverse mental health and wellbeing gap for Indigenous Australians.

Advancing Indigenous Mental Health Research

The articles in this issue of Transcultural Psychiatry point the way toward meaningful advances in mental health research pertaining to Indigenous peoples, illuminating the distinctive problems and predicaments that confront these communities as well as unrecognized or neglected sources of well-being and resilience. As we observe in this introductory essay, future research will benefit from ethical awareness, conceptual clarity, and methodological refinement. Such efforts will enable additional insight into that which is common to Indigenous mental health across settler societies, and that which is specific to local histories, cultures and contexts. Research of this kind can contribute to nuanced understandings of developmental pathways, intergenerational effects, and community resilience, and inform policy and practice to better meet the needs of Indigenous individuals, communities and populations.

Indigenous mental health: the limits of medicalised solutions

Objective: The excess burden of mental disorders experienced by Indigenous Australians is complexly overdetermined. Social and political factors contributing to the intransigence of vulnerability are reviewed, and the wider arena of neoliberal political change considered. Conclusions: The dynamic relationship between disadvantage and mental health vulnerability requires that practitioners should be attuned to both the ‘big picture’ and ‘modest and practical ways’ to contribute to reducing the developmental embedding of social disadvantage and transgenerational vulnerability.