Thread by @drlouisehansen

Intergenerational Trauma: My humble two cent for First Nations Australians. Every year I hear Australians say “Why should I say sorry? I didn’t do anything!”, “If their culture is so good why did they adopt ours?” 1/13 ❤️ #HealingTrauma #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe

or “Why do they drink so much and waste their money?” “That was so long ago! Why can’t they move on and get over it?” So, intergenerational trauma does not work that way. You don’t just get over Genocide. 2/13

Or school kids calling you the [James] “Cook Killer!” because the History Teacher taught it. No parents to cry to. You were taken away. Or going to Church listening to migrant children allowed to speak Italian or Japanese, yet strictly banned from speaking your language. 3/13

Or being told you are an alcoholic and terrible with money when you made an absolute fortune from your Art or being a professional athlete but were forbidden from buying a house or a car with your pay. So that was some of then. What of now? 4/13

You don’t just get over that in 2021 there is still pages of longstanding human rights abuses against First Nations Australians from the top down such as our legislation, policies, programs, welfare, policing, prisons, access to services, cultural heritage, native title. 5/13

You cannot get over something that is still happening. This week I was the Psychologist at the 2021 Closing the Gap on Indigenous Health Conference. Institutional racism is still alive. It is still real. Due to historically intrenched factors First Nations Australians 6/13

are the most imprisoned worldwide: making up 25% of people in custody yet merely 3% of the Australian population. So, did you know 65% of First Nations patients in prison experienced or witnessed trauma? Or 66.6% received a mental illness diagnosis? 7/13

Research in NSW demonstrates Aboriginal people had almost twice rate of high/very high psychological distress than non-Aboriginal people. The rate of suicide was double than non-Aboriginal Australians. The rate of hospitalisation for a mental disorder was also double. 8/13

One of the most tragic parts of this crisis is that many years ago David Edinburgh came to Far North Queensland to make a documentary about the Great Barrier Reef. David Edinburgh spoke with local First Nations people about the region. 9/13

Today scientific findings from James Cook University Cairns confirm thousands of year old stories, song lines, and dances about the workings of this beautiful region. This only illustrates the strength of their culture and connection to country. 10/13

Yet First Nations Australians were much more than silenced - still experience ongoing human rights abuses to this day. I find it quite arrogant and/or naive when Australians say “Why should I say sorry? I didn’t do anything!”, “If their culture is so good why adopt ours?” 11/13

or “Why do they drink so much and waste their money?” “That was so long ago! Why can’t they move on and get over it?” Intergenerational trauma does not work that way. You don’t just get over something like that. Even more so when it is still happening to this day. 12/13

I look forward to the day we end this harmful narrative and commit to the solutions that prevent injustice, intergenerational trauma and suicide. For Human Rights and a Trauma Informed Australia add your name: ❤️ #HealingTrauma megaphone.org.au/petitions/i-ca… 13/13

@threadreaderapp please unroll. ❤️✌️