There are many things that influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing including poverty, racism and disregard for traditional practices. The ongoing effects of colonisation have created a burden that extends across generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and communities. The determinants of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing are complex and interrelated. 

Discrimination and racism

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are much more likely to experience discrimination and racism than non-Indigenous Australians. Discrimination can affect access to services and opportunities to improve social and emotional wellbeing including through health, mental health and housing services. Racism can negatively affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in their education, or in gaining and staying in employment, social interactions, relationships, or in accessing finance to purchase a home.

The Beyond Blue report on discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (2016) found that as many as one in five admit they would discriminate when sitting near an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, or in a retail environment. One in 10 would tell jokes about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, avoid them on public transport or not hire an Aboriginal person or Torres Strait Islander person for a job.

There is growing evidence (Gee et al, 2014) that racial discrimination is associated with a range of adverse effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing such as chronic health conditions, mental health issues, and harmful behaviours such as smoking, alcohol and drug use. Experiences of racism at school and in higher education can have a negative influence on the education outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, including disengagement and withdrawal from school. Even when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people complete year 12 they are less likely to achieve parity in employment outcomes. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face a number of barriers that may prevent them from accessing services including remoteness, a lack of culturally appropriate services, a lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff within available services, limited training of mental health service staff regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, and stigma and stereotyping. These factors may be accompanied by a general mistrust of services, fear of being admitted to hospital or confined in unfamiliar surroundings, or of having children taken away (Garvey, 2008).

Child removals and trauma

Forced child removals have profound influences on those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that were removed including their connection with family, community and culture as adults. Human rights breaches can have a devastating impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing and counselling with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must be strongly embedded in a human rights framework.

The Inquiry into the Stolen Generations (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1996) found that the policies and laws that underpinned the forced removal were a gross breach of human rights and an act of genocide. When applied in the context and history and colonisation it is evident that there were many breaches of human rights against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and communities. 

Milroy et al (2014) considered the impacts of trauma experienced historically and found that there are three major themes that cover the nature of the trauma that occurs over many generations. These are:

  1. The extreme sense of powerlessness and loss of control;
  2. The profound sense of loss, grief and disconnection; and
  3. The overwhelming sense of trauma and helplessness.

It has been shown that feelings of powerlessness or lack of control over one’s life have been linked to poor health and life outcomes, despair and depression, suicide, violence, substance misuse, poor relationships and parenting difficulties.

Atkinson et al (2014) also found that survivors of childhood trauma are more likely to have difficulty developing and maintaining relationships with caregivers, peers and marital partners. Adults with a childhood history of unresolved trauma are more likely to develop lifestyle diseases (heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, skeletal fractures and liver disease) and be likely to enter and remain in the criminal justice system. 

Life stress

Stress is a factor in range of physical and mental health conditions. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience higher levels of stress than non-Indigenous Australians and this influences rates of domestic and family violence, chronic health conditions, mental health issues and harmful smoking, drug and alcohol use. Stress can be influenced by a number of things including racism, discrimination, separation from family, the death or incarceration of a family member or overcrowded housing.

Cultural stress such as the massive disruption caused by massacres, introduced diseases, dispossession and forcible removal of children robbed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities of almost every opportunity to control the nature of their adaptations (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1996).

Forty-four per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander respondents surveyed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported at least three life stressors in the previous 12 months, and 12 per cent of respondents reported experiencing at least seven life stressors that included the death of a family member or close friend, serious illness or disability, inability to get work, overcrowding at home, and alcohol and drug-related problems. Multiple stresses were more prevalent for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in remote and rural locations (Parker et al. 2014. p.117).

Social inequality

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, 2020) report stated that when outcomes have not improved, they need to be understood with reference to the personal challenges and systemic and structural barriers that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have experienced and continue to face. For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a higher prevalence of the personal risk factors associated with poorer outcomes and are more likely to have multiple risk factors and are often disproportionally affected by structural barriers due to their particular circumstances or the disadvantage they experience.

Access to safe and secure housing is essential for people’s social and emotional wellbeing. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face significant social inequality in relation to housing including discrimination, availability and affordability. This results in overcrowding and homelessness. Overcrowded housing can influence health, education and social outcomes, including by jeopardising personal safety and security (Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, 2020).

Economic and social disadvantage

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often experience low socio-economic outcomes, including high unemployment rates. Wherever Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples live, group outcomes are on average poorer than outcomes for Australians who are not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in those same areas (Law Council of Australia, 2018).

Poverty is associated with a wide range of disadvantage, including poor health, shortened life expectancy, poor education, substance abuse, reduced social participation and crime and violence (AIHW, 2017). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, on average, experience lower employment rates and therefore lower incomes than non-Indigenous Australians for a range of reasons. These include lower levels of education and training, living in areas with fewer employment opportunities, higher levels of contact with the criminal justice system, experiences of discrimination, and lower levels of job retention (Family Matters 2020 p.13-14).

Incarceration and youth detention

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely than non-Indigenous people to experience multiple, intersecting legal problems. This includes elevated legal need in areas of, crime, government, child protection, tenancy, discrimination, social security, credit and consumer issues and family law and family violence. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to receive community-based sentences than non-Indigenous offenders, and as a result, may be more likely to be imprisoned for the same offence (The Law Council of Australia 2018).
The Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (2020) reported higher rates of repeat offending, as measured by repeat police apprehension, return to supervision or return to prison, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are in part due to the reasons they are more likely to be incarcerated in the first place, including:

Higher prevalence of personal and situational risk factors – these factors include younger age profile (younger people have a higher risk of incarceration), cognitive impairment (offenders with cognitive impairment are almost three times as likely to reoffend than those without), unstable housing, substance abuse, family problems, child protection involvement, peer delinquency and school related problems

Structural and systemic issues — such as the lack of access to affordable justice services, lack of access to secure accommodation that is a disadvantage when applying for bail, and lack of non-custodial sentencing options in some areas, which all disproportionately affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Domestic and family violence

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported in 2018 that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women as a group were at the greatest risk of domestic and family violence. In 2014–15, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women were 32 times as likely to be hospitalised due to family violence as non-Indigenous women. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men were 23 times more likely to be hospitalised due to family violence compared to males who are not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. These statistics do not account for the likelihood of underreporting. 

Family violence is a major cause of homelessness, and it is the biggest reason for people seeking homelessness assistance, as recognised by the Australian Government. Housing is a major factor contributing to the inability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women being able to leave violent relationships and a key contributing factor to child protection intervention and the removal of Aboriginal children (Law Council of Australia, 2018).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women may also be dissuaded from seeking family violence assistance due to a lack of cultural competence amongst services. Women’s Legal Services Australia states that women in custody have often not told police, lawyers or the court about the violence they have experienced, including violence materially relevant to their charges and their defence. It considers that, most commonly, this is because they are not comfortable to make disclosures about sexual violence to male professionals (Law Council of Australia, 2018).

There are numerous reports that there is a lack of cultural competence in ‘mainstream services’ including courts, lawyers, child-protection officers, the police and psychologists and a need for accessible culturally safe services delivered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations. The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department in its review of domestic and family violence prevention legal services, confirmed that ‘many Indigenous women do not access mainstream domestic and violence services because they do not feel comfortable with the organisation itself and don’t feel that the staff understand their culture, values and needs’ (Law Council of Australia, 2018).

The history of colonisation of Australia has had a devastating effect on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families and communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as a group, have experienced considerable trauma in the form of dispossession of land, removal of children, racism, discrimination and loss of culture. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to experience high levels of social and economic disadvantage compared with the population as a whole, and are more likely to experience unemployment, low incomes, chronic disease, disability, homelessness, child removals, imprisonment, violence, suicide and mental health issues. It is important to be aware of the issues and influences and how they affect the social and emotional wellbeing of individuals, as well as families and communities. 

Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from the upcoming Advanced Study Major on Working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, Families and Communities in AIPC’s Diploma of Counselling. A unit on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural safety also appears in the Diplomas of Counselling, Youth Work, Alcohol and Other Drugs, and Mental Health.

Recommended Resource: Mental Health Academy’s Sitting with Aboriginal Clients: Best Practices and Cultural Insights course collection. 

References:

  1. Atkinson, J., Nelson, J., Brooks, R., Atkinson, C. and Ryan, K. (2014). ‘Addressing Individual and Community Transgenerational Trauma’. Chapter 17 in Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., and Walker, R. (2014). Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
  2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2019). Australia’s welfare snapshots 2019. Australian Government, Canberra. 
  3. Beyond Blue. (2016). Discrimination against Indigenous Australians: A snapshot of the views of non-Indigenous people aged 25–44.
  4. Family Matters. (2020). The Family Matters Report 2020. Measuring Trends to Turn the Tide on the Over-Representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in Out-of-home Care in Australia. Postscript Printing and Publishing, Eltham.
  5. Gee, G., Dudgeon, P., Schultz, C., Hart, A. and Kelly, K. (2014). ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing’. Chapter 4 in Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., and Walker, R. (2014). Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
  6. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. (1996). Bringing Them Home: The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families. 
  7. Law Council of Australia. (2018). Closing the Gap Refresh Submission Paper. https://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/publicassets/7fe86bb9-d957-e811-93fb005056be13b5/3439%20-%20Closing%20the%20Gap%20Refresh.pdf 
  8. Milroy, H. (2014). ‘Understanding the Lives of Aboriginal Children and Families’. Chapter 21 in Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., and Walker, R. (2014). Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
  9. Parker, R. and Milroy, H. (2014) ‘Mental Illness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’. In Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., and Walker, R. (2014). Chapter 7 Working Together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice. Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia.
  10. Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision. (2020). Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2020. Productivity Commission, Canberra.