Decolonising mental illness: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ Social and Emotional Wellbeing and the persistence of colonial discourses in policy

Abstract

Rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' suicide and the concerns over experiences of mental "ill" health are increasing. In recent years, this has caused contestation over approaches to "health" that seek to address this. Within this context, Social and Emotional Wellbeing, a holistic, decolonising approach to health, has ascended in Australian health policy. This paper applies a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis, using his theoretical framework of power, knowledge and discourse, to four Australian policy documents associated with addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' Social and Emotional Wellbeing and "mental health". Findings reveal aspects of the Social and Emotional Wellbeing discourse having presence in the policy documents. Its understanding, however, is constrained by a cultural and institutional context that privileges and perpetuates a biomedical lens. Additionally, there is a failure to address systemic neocolonialism even while acknowledging that health disparities stem from colonialism. As such, this paper argues that, although integration of Social and Emotional Wellbeing has commenced in these policy documents, the hegemony of colonial discourses persists. This is along with a lack of policy reference in these documents for coordinated activity across social institutions and structures to address holistic demands.

Climate Change-Related Distress Within the Dominant Mental Health Paradigm: Problems, Pitfalls, and a Possible Way Forward

“…This rewriting of culturally relevant wisdom imposed an Anglocentric, individualistic, biomedical conception of diagnosis and treatment for those experiencing CCRD (Gibson et al, 2019). This exemplifies the influence of present-day colonisation (Coe, 2021) and the need for fostering cultural democracy (Akinyela, 2014), decolonising practices (Eatock et al, 2021), and congruent engagement with Indigenous and relational ontologies (Adams, 2021b) within the unfolding academic concepts and public descriptions of CCRD.…”

“…Importantly, individualistic Anglocentric constructions of mental distress in the biomedical paradigm are known to not be useful, and are harmful for First Nations Peoples (Coe, 2021;Dudgeon & Walker, 2015), who are at high risk of experiencing CCRD (Hayes et al, 2018;Middleton et al, 2020). Furthermore, collective justice-seeking action and decolonising methods around climate change and CCRD used by these communities are often underfunded (Cuffe, 2021), silenced (Lakhani, 2021), and even criminalised (Bell, 2020;Taylor, 2021).…”

Yarning about e-mental health tools: First Nations Australian youth perspectives of well-being and e-health

“…In seeking First Nations youth’s perspectives of e-health, it is essential to first consider how mental health is uniquely viewed and conceptualised within First Nations communities. Contrary to western models which confine views of health to the absence of illness (Coe, 2021), First Nations communities typically view well-being holistically. For example, the social and emotional well-being (SEWB) model (Gee et al, 2014) highlights the importance of intertwining relationships between family, culture, spirit, Community, and connection to Country as a framework for health.…”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men’s groups and social and emotional wellbeing: a scoping review

“…Gee et al (2014) outline that these include the interconnected SEWB domains of Country, spirituality, culture, family and kinship, mind and emotions, and body. This is a promising health paradigm, which has been utilised to inform health policy (Coe, 2021) and therapeutic practices (Gupta et al, 2020).…”