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Mental health in australian indigenous people
How assimilation impacted indigenous peoples
Mental health in australian indigenous people
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The Stolen Generations refer to a large number of children that were taken away from their families in a large government sanctioned abduction scheme. The half-caste children were taken away from mothers who were deemed unfit simply because of their Aboriginal race. The children were taken to schools to receive a European education. However, at those schools the children were severely abused and were not permitted to speak in their native language. Many of the children did not see their families for decades and some not ever again. The schools were designed to take the Aboriginal culture away from these children and assimilate them into white culture. This resulted in an entire generation of Aborigines losing their true identity. To some, it seemed that the assimilation of Maori children was a success. “People probably see on the surface that we’ve led successful lives. But that’s on the surface.” Many of those who were taken as children suffered from depression and other psychological disorders as adults due to their experiences as children. Those affected by such disorders may seem as though they are thriving when in fact they are severely damaged emotionally. One cannot remove a person’s entire culture from their life …show more content…
The discrimination that the indigenous group in Australia faces has detrimental effects on its young population. “The latest statistics show that our 15-24 year olds are dying by suicide at four times the non-Indigenous rate; and our 1-14 year olds at nine times the non-indigenous rate.” The high suicide rates in young Aboriginal people shows that there is a serious problem happening with the Aboriginal population and that it needs to be addressed. Suicide rates among the young Maori population in New Zealand is much less prevalent. Perhaps if there was a better sense of community in Australia between the white population and the Aboriginal people, suicide rates would
Indigenous youth continue to be marginalised and oppressed. The marginalisation of the Aboriginal community is a result of colonisation. The Indigenous community lost their land and culture. This is reflected on today’s Indigenous youth as they are still feeling the effects.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government began abolishing the compulsory residential school education among Aboriginal people. The government believed that Aboriginal children could receive a better education if they were integrated into the public school system (Hanson). However, residential schools were later deemed inappropriate because not only were the children taken away from their culture, their families and their people, but the majority of students were abus...
The stolen generation is a scenario carry out by the Australian government to separate most aboriginal people’s families. The government was enforced take the light skinned aboriginal kids away from their guardians to learn the white people’s culture in the campus around the country and then send them back to their hometown and prohibit them join the white people’s society after they turn be an adult. The
Definition: Mental health has become a pressing issue in Indigenous communities. Often, a combination of trauma, a lack of accessible health resources, substance abuse, violence, and socioeconomic situations lead to high rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality in Indigenous Peoples. This crisis is especially apparent in Indigenous youth, where there is a growing suicide epidemic but little mental health support and resources are provided. The increase in stigmatized and untreated mental illness has continued as trauma and systemic injustices remain unaddressed. Indigenous groups, governmental parties, and health organizations are involved.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have some of the worst health outcomes in comparison to any other indigenous community in the world (AIHW, 2011). According to United Nations official Anand Grover, Aboriginal health conditions are even worse than some Third World countries (Arup & Sharp, 2009), which is astonishing, considering Australia is one of the worlds wealthiest countries. Thoroughly identifying the causes and analysing every aspect behind poor health of indigenous Australians, and Australian health in general, is near impossible due to the complexity and abundant layers of this issue. Even within the category of social determinants, it is hard to distinguish just one factor, due to so many which interrelate and correspond with each other. The aim of this essay is to firstly identify and analyse components of the social determinants of health that impact the wellbeing of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, and demonstrate how they overlap with each other. By analysing the inequalities in health of Aboriginal and non-indigenous Australians, positive health interventions will then be addressed. Racism and the consequences it has on Indigenous health and wellbeing will be discussed, followed by an analysis of how and why social class and status is considered a determining factor when studying the health of the Aboriginal population. The issue relating ...
Residential schools undoubtedly created detrimental inter-generational consequences. The dark legacy of residential schools has had enduring impact, reaching into each new generation, and has led to countless problems within Aboriginal families including: chemical dependence, a cycle of abuse in families, dysfunctional families, crime and incarceration, depression, grief, suicide, and cultural identity issues (McFarlan, 2000, p. 13). Therefore, the inter-generational consequence...
Healthcare systems are microcosms of the larger society in which they exist. Where there is structural violence or cultural violence in the larger society, so will there be evidence of systematic inequities in the institutions of these societies. The healthcare system in Australia is one example—from a plethora of similarly situated healthcare systems—in which the color of a patient’s skin or the race of his parents may determine the quality of medical received. Life expectancy and infant mortality rates are vastly different for non-Aboriginal, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islanders residing in Australia. The life expectancy of Aboriginal men is 21 years shorter than for non-Aboriginal men in Australia. For women, the difference is 19 years. The infant mortality rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander male infants is 6.8% and the infant mortality rate for female infants is 6.7%. For non-Aboriginal infants, the infant mortality rates are 1% for male infants and 0.8% for female infants. Further, the Aboriginal population is subject to a wide-range of diseases that do not exhibit comparatively high incidence rates in non-Aboriginal Australians.
The education of Aboriginal people is a challenge that has been a concern for many years and is still an issue. However, it remains the best way young people can climb out of poverty. With the colonialization and the oppression of Aboriginals, there have been many lasting side effects that continue to be affecting the Aboriginal youth today. “While retention and graduation rates have improved among urban Aboriginal population, an educational gap still remains between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth in urban settings” (Donovan, 127). Many suffer from a diminished self-worth, as they do not feel valued and feel inferior to their classmates. In this essay I am going to outline the reasons Aboriginals are struggling, discuss what is being done
The authors describe Indigenous perspectives on health and well-being based on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s historical and cultural backgrounds. In the Indigenous culture, health comprises not just physical and mental health, but emotional well-being, social and environmental factors as well. Moreover, this holistic approach to health is most associated with their cultural and spiritual dimension. For instance, it is important to maintain their physical and cultural connection to traditional lands as well
The period termed the “cultural transition” that happened soon after Aboriginal peoples made contact with the colonizers, was when they were initially stripped of their cultural authority and social power. Once Aboriginal peoples realized they had minimal control over the devastating events, they began to display behavioural patterns of helplessness and giving up (Wesley-Esquimaux & Smolewski, 2004). These behaviours of helplessness led to many of the Aboriginal peoples choosing to withdraw socially, reduce their cultural and spiritual activities, and engage in repetitive cycles of conflict. The continued acts of conflict in turn led to profound psychological problems (drug addiction, sexual abuse, alcoho...
Since colonialism after the invasion, Australia indigenous peoples have experienced a great deal of loss of identity, loss, disempowerment, cultural alienation, grief. Many indigenous people's mental and physical health impaired. Suicide, family violence, drug abuse and unemployment rates is higher than the Australian average(Berry et al. 2012). That is complicated to contributing to develop and support sustainable mental health and social wellbeing for Australian aboriginals staying in rural areas ,related to much diversity involved in and between individuals and communities (Guerin & Guerin 2012).
The assimilation policy was a policy that existed between the 1940’s and the 1970’s, and replaced that of protectionism. Its purpose was to have all persons of aboriginal blood and mixed blood living like ‘white’ Australians, this established practice of removing Aboriginal children (generally half-bloods) from their homes was to bring them up without their culture, and they were encouraged to forget their aboriginal heritage. Children were placed in institutions where they could be 'trained' to take their place in white society. During the time of assimilation Aboriginal people were to be educated for full citizenship, and have access to public education, housing and services. However, most commonly aboriginal people did not receive equal rights and opportunities, for example, their wages were usually less than that paid to the white workers and they often did not receive recognition for the roles they played in the defence of Australia and their contribution to the cattle industry. It wasn’t until the early 1960’s that expendi...
The Stolen Generation has had a profound impact on every aspect of the lives of Indigenous communities. It has jeopardised their very survival. It has impoverished their capacity to control and direct their future development. The Stolen Generation has corrupted, devastated and destroyed the souls, hopes and beliefs of many Australian lives through damaging assimilation policies established in an attempt to make a ‘White Australia’ possible. Discrimination, racism and prejudice are some of the many permanent scars upon Indigenous life that will never be repaired. However, recently Rudd and the Australian public have sincerely apologised for the detrimental effects the Stolen Generation had caused. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
Parbury (1999:64) states that Aboriginal education “cannot be separated” from the non-Aboriginal attitudes (racially based ethnocentricity that were especially British ie. white and Christian) towards Aborigines, their culture and their very existence. The Mission Schools are an early example of the connection between official education policies and key events in Aboriginal history. Aboriginal children were separated from their parents and placed into these schools which according to McGrath (as cited by Parbury, 1999:66) it was recommended that these establishments be located ‘as far as possible’ from non Aboriginal residents so as to minimize any heathen influence that Aboriginal children might be subject to from their parents. Mission Schools not only prepared Aboriginal youth for the manual labour market but also, adds Parbury (1999:67) their aim was‘to destroy Aboriginal culture and replace it with an Anglo-European work and faith ethic.’ Despite the NSW Public Instruction Act (1880) which made education free, secular and compulsory for all children Aboriginal children could be excluded from public schools based on prevailing dominant group attitudes. Consequently, the NSW Aborigines Protection Act (1909) was introduced as a result of a perceived public education crisis and Laws had already been passed, similar to protectionist type policies. This Act gave the State the power to remove Aboriginal children from their families whereby this period of time has become known as ‘Stolen Generations.’ It was during this time that Aboriginal children were segregated from mainstream schools. (Parbury, 1999; Lippman, 1994).
In order to attend residential schools, Aboriginal children were taken away from their families and communities. The proper definition of Aboriginal people or Aboriginal includes Métis, Inuit, and First Nations regardless of where they live in Canada and regardless of whether they are “registered” under the Indian Act of Canada (Stout and Kiping, 2003:5). Throughout history First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people have faced centuries of colonial suppression which has disrupted the process of Aboriginal cultural identity formation. One of the tools of suppression is through the formation of residential schools. At the schools, the children suffered from emotional, physical, sexual and psychological abuse (Stout and Kipling, 2003:8). The trauma to which Aboriginal people were exposed in the past by residential schools continues to have major negative effect to the generations to follow.