A visiting trauma experts alarm at drug and domestic abuse in indigenous areas has led to the creation of a training program to be offered at the University of Wollongong in conjunction with Harvard Medical School. The program recognises the role trauma plays among indigenous Australians and was developed as part of an official partnership with Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard. Aboriginal health specialist Debra Hocking, who will run and co-ordinate the program, said it will aim to give participants better ability to treat individuals and whole communities through recognising the hurt caused to indigenous Australians. While acknowledging that attitudes had improved in the past 20 years, she said the course will tackle the problems core, rather than offering more short-term solutions like prescribing anti-depressants. Its the old c-word, she said. I hate to say it but its gone on since the beginning of colonisation and its compound trauma: loss of land, loss of identity, being taken from your family, and the list goes on. Things like family violence, child abuse, are now being documented as symptoms of trauma. The government goes on about closing the gap, well you will never close the gap until you start addressing these things, she said. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from the 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey found that 32 per cent of participants reported either a high or very high level of psychological distress, well above average rates for non-indigenous Australians. The curriculum, which Ms Hocking developed with indigenous experts last week, will cover theory surrounding generational trauma and peer learning based on case studies. The course is the first of its kind in Australia. (from the article) - [Cat]
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:36:55 +0000
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