There is a ready workforce of passionate, experienced, empathic and motivated indigenous paraprofessionals who are eager to address their communities’ priorities (Barlow & Walkup, 1998; Chernoff & Cueva, 2017; Gampa et al., 2017). While efforts continue to expand the AI/AN professional mental health treatment workforce, there are alternative approaches to concurrently fill gaps. The paucity of Native psychologists leads to a lack of academic role models for Native students interested in mental health professions (LaFromboise, 1988; Thomason, 1999). AI/ANs are overrepresented in statistics defining mental health disparities, while simultaneously underrepresented in the availability of mental health professionals (Thomason, 1999). A traditional healer was described as someone who engages in their own wellness, holds traditional and cultural knowledge usually through learning from other healers or elders, believes that an individual holds the ability to heal him or herself, and serves the whole community (Moorehead et al., 2015). Common themes to define traditional healing included relationality (e.g., relation to family, community, higher spiritual power, environment), personal characteristics (e.g., trust in traditional healing process, humor), and continuing culture, history, and teachings.

As part of a mental health reform package, two dedicated primary mental healthcare initiatives were introduced through Australia’s national Access to Allied Psychological Services (ATAPS) program. Dedicated provider-level strategies to ensure the cultural appropriateness of services were primarily aimed at the context and process of delivery (involving, flexible referral pathways, suitable locations, adaptation of client engagement and service feedback processes) and, to a lesser extent, the nature and content of interventions (provision of culturally adapted therapy). We conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 service providers (primary care agency staff, referrers, and mental health professionals) that were analysed thematically and descriptively. This site contains a wide range of information about programs and events of relevance to and about indigenous peoples. Mental Health Commission of CanadaThe MHCC is partnering with Indigenous communities across Canada to help overcome barriers and support their vision for improved mental health. Conceptual frameworks for wellbeing68 are being developed to account for the collective and holistic view of health, with culturally informed dimensions including community, Country, culture, spirituality, and others.103

Reclaiming Our Identity Through Indigenous Cultural Generative Acts to Improve Mental Health of All Generations

Access to mental health services for Indigenous populations can be limited due to barriers such as a lack of culturally appropriate services and a lack of awareness about available services. Another barrier encountered by Indigenous people to access mental health services is the lack of familiarity with mainstream mental health services offered within their local area and limited early intervention supports. Lack of culturally appropriate services and trust in mainstream health services is an important barrier for Indigenous people to access services and effectively address their mental health needs , as they perceive mental health and well-being differently due to the cultural and language differences 15, 44. Other barriers that hinder Indigenous people’s access to mental health services are discussed below, which also need to be considered in future research to quantify mental health accessibility by Indigenous people. (1) Primary mental health services, the first point of contact for individuals seeking mental health support, provide general mental healthcare and interventions for common mental health issues. A wide range of mental health services are offered to people depending on where they live (country, state, or region) and the healthcare systems in operation.

But Feller wonders, can the scientific establishment accept such a radical departure from care and research as usual? Underlying such programs is the idea that if the historical trauma of colonization is the problem, then cultural revitalization could be the solution. And they recognize the powerful role history plays in shaping health and well-being. Such apologies pave the way for the sort of deep changes in thinking and treatment that are needed to help Indigenous communities heal, researchers involved in this work say. In recent years, Canada and Australia have issued similar apologies to their countries’ Indigenous populations. This apology honors the longstanding, often underappreciated, efforts of Indigenous and other researchers working with Indigenous communities.

We R Native

EMHPrac acknowledges people with a lived experience of mental illness and their significant contribution to the development of Australia’s digital mental health services. The combination of a growing workforce of Native mental health professionals (e.g., psychologists) alongside indigenous community mental health workers has the ability to widen scope, increase local and cultural assets, improve a continuum of care, and work to reduce disparities. Points of integrating traditional healing and western mental health care emphasize working together on culturally based programs, respect for each system of care, and the importance of communication between the two (Moorehead et al., 2015). A convening of traditional healers, researchers, and clinicians provided a definition of traditional healing and traditional healer, in addition to points of integration for AI/AN practices with mental health services (Moorehead, Gone, & December, 2015). A recent study of Dine youth, caregivers, and elders revealed “connections to the land were a vital cultural strength on which to build efforts to promote mental health, wellbeing, and healing” (Goodkind et al., 2015).

• And it can help participants develop new social networks.
• And, in Inuit communities, the youth suicide rate is 11 times the national average.
• Notwithstanding the lack of an explicit Indigenous stakeholder perspective as the ultimate arbiter of successful implementation, most interviewed providers deemed the services to be culturally appropriate.
• A coalition of Native community mental health workers alongside Native mental health professionals may be the keystone to an ideal system to eliminate mental health disparities and restore balance and wellness throughout Indian Country.
• Advancing the development of a situation analysis on the health of Indigenous Peoples

Burgeoning viewpoints assert that if colonialism and intergenerational historical loss are recognized as the identified problem, it follows that interventions with AI/ANs should be focused on cultural reassertion and revitalization at the individual and Cultural humility resources for professionals community level (Brave Heart et al., 2011; Gone & Trimble, 2012; Goodkind et al., 2015). There is also a general sense of shared suffering (Brave Heart, Chase, Elkins, & Altschul, 2011) that may be reflected in population-level mental health disparities. In addition, research has shown that AI/AN individuals may prefer Native providers for mental health treatment (e.g., Aronson, Johnson-Jennings, Kading, Smith, & Walls, 2016; Venner et al., 2012). AI/AN ethnic identification may also have implications for choosing to engage in mental health treatment.