Aboriginal Elders in Perth are working with mainstream mental health service leaders to improve mental health services for their community. The Looking Forward research project , which I lead, has enabled mental health service providers in Perth and Nyoongar Elders to be active partners in a steady and sustained engagement process. In this part of the project, four elders worked with one mental health service leader for eight years to pass on this knowledge and transform the way his service treats Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers.
Our latest research paper, published as a case study in the journal Social Sciences , shows how Perth-based mental health services are now becoming more culturally informed and responsive, with Aboriginal people more likely to feel acknowledged, respected and safer when accessing services. The Elders stressed it was vital to work boss to boss, or biddiya to biddiya in Nyoongar language. Strong leadership is needed to ensure changes are embedded across all levels of services.
As Nyoongar Elder Uncle Peter Wilkes explains, this way of working is informed by an Aboriginal cultural approach to leadership: Biddi is actually a path and biddiya is someone who leads down that path. [..
. The bosses are] protecting whoever is following. So, that’s what we’re doing.
So, they call us biddiyas [cultural bosses]: we’re doing things now for people [the future generations] to come. It is unrealistic to expect quick-fixes and rapid changes to th.
