First Nations Telegraph

Members of the Black Dog Institute’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Centre will come together in Sydney for a National Gathering on November 16th and 17th.

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Around 35 representatives from as far as Broome, Perth and far north Queensland are expected to unite to discuss the world-first portal which launched in July this year along with the experiences of the lived experience network members. They will meet with people from the advisory committee and staff from the institute which help set up the portal and guide the continued expansion of the lived experience centre.

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“This is the first time we have been able to bring everyone together so they can workshop the portal’s success and talk about how to move forward with this and the lived experience centre more generally,” says Dr Clinton Schultz, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategy at the Black Dog Institute.

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“We see ourselves as administrators of the centre and want to make opportunities better for the network members to have a voice at national level and to influence mental health and suicide prevention policy. We hope this will be an annual event and look forward to seeing what comes out of this year’s yarn.”

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The portal aims to connect First Nations peoples with experience of personal or familial mental ill health, suicide and suicide prevention with organisations and government agencies who want advice on how to develop tools and services in a culturally sensitive way to support this community.

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It is led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to inform, enable, and deliver better services, care, and programs to improve social and emotional wellbeing including mental health outcomes and suicide prevention which ultimately save lives.

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“Over the coming year we are setting up localised networks which offer many more opportunities for network members at a local level to get together face-to-face and influence what is happening in this space at the local level.

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“The three test pilot sites will be based in the Torres Strait Islands, the Hunter Valley in NSW and Broome in WA.”

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Corporate and professional Members of the portal can get best practice information on correct terminology, policies and regular webinars addressing a range of issues to factor in when designing services for this community.

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As well as having access to resources these members, who will subscribe to the service, can request support with co-designing specific platforms under development, which will be prioritized by the team.

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Those interested in finding out more can visit here