Thread by @TracyWesterman

Ok, I’m going to attempt a thread.

When non-Indigenous children suicide, Australians are pointed, and RIGHTLY so, to look for deficits in society or systems. When Indigenous children suicide, Australians are pointed toward the deficits in Indigenous families, in our culture.

This removes the possibility for compassion FOR us, FOR our families, FOR the children’s families. When are we going to have a more empathetic view of Indigenous child suicides and for Indigenous families bereaved by suicide?

The core of this is that we confuse risk factors with causes of suicide and generalise out issues such as abuse, alcohol, FAS as explanations for ALL suicides. It is a "they did it to themselves” mentality that is not only inaccurate, but unhelpful and unkind.

If we have clear evidence of the causes, this will ensure that programs are better focused on suicide reduction. So, for example, what separates person A who has been abused and becomes suicidal from person B who does not?

The reality is that unless you can undertake rigorous assessment and have the pre-requisite clinical and cultural expertise to do this, there is going to be an endless cycle of risk that is only ‘predicted’ once a child dies by suicide.

Currently, & staggeringly, funding does not require that programs demonstrate a measurable reduction in suicide & mental health risk factors in the communities in which they are delivered. What this means is that we are not accumulating data or research evidence of ‘what works’.

If we don’t evaluate programs and accumulate evidence, we have NO HOPE of informing future practice to halt the intergenerational transmission of suicide risk.

It has been a very dark start to the year unfortunately for Indigenous people. Things need to be done better. #auspol

I had a chat with with Nadia Mitsopoulos and Russell Woolf over on the ABC about the inquest, and for the most part, I’m truly lost for words.

Disbelief over suicide inquest recommendation abc.net.au/radio/perth/pr…