NYAMAL DOCTOR RECIEVES ORDER OF AUSTRALIA AHEAD OF WORLD SUICIDE PREVENTION CONCERT
Dr Tracy Westerman recieved the Order of Australia
Dr Tracy Westerman AM has received the Order of Australia this week ahead of the World Suicide Prevention Day concert to be held tomorrow.
The Westerman Jilya Institute will host a fundraising concert for Indigenous suicide prevention featuring a star-studded lineup of Indigenous artists, with special guest John Butler.
The Concert will feature top Indigenous artists Gina Williams AM and Guy Ghouse and Naomi Pigram and will be headlined by a special guest: internationally renowned, ARIA-award winning musician and songwriter John Butler, who is donating his time to perform.
Dr Westerman told Ngaarda Media that funds will go towards raising an army of Indigenous phycologists.
“It's a poignant day and a marker of respect for those people who we have sadly lost people through suicide. So we're actually running an event at the University of Western Australia at Winthrop Hall that specifically is for Indigenous people who've been bereaved by Suicide and to kind of bring attention to the fact that as Aboriginal people. We have at least double the rate of suicide as non-indigenous people sadly and the idea behind the concert is to raise funds specifically to get more indigenous psychologists into those remote communities.”
ROWANS WALK
This year Rowan’s Walk, an event that was started by Rowan Dann four years ago to raise awareness about suicide prevention, expanded from Port Hedland to Newman and Roebourne. The Rowan’s Walk event was held yesterday in Roebourne.
“I want to acknowledge Rowan’s Walk, Dr Westerman said. Young leaders, you know, they are our future and the fact that we actually have people - the grassroots, that frankly have done the heavy lifting for way too long to address a lot of these really complex issues in our communities, that have been the result of government neglect —- generations of government neglect. I just want to send my respect love and everything I can to that incredible grassroots event that's getting momentum.
“We shouldn't have to as First Nations people bear the burden of these sorts of things. These are things that our communities of you know, the origin, obviously is in the forceful removable policies, you know, that occurred through decades of government that have never truly been acknowledged or reconciled and healed.”
MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE IN REMOTE COMMUNITIES
Dr Westerman says there needs to be more access to services in remote communities.
“ It's no surprise that our highest risk communities are consistently our most remote and they call it unconscious bias for a reason and it seems that you know, when it comes to remote-ness, of course, there is this failure to even consider often when people are generating services from the city, that they often forget that our highest risk communities are the most remote ones. So there's that blank spot often.
“That’s really what the concert is about saying, okay, we're prepared to do the heavy lifting as First Nations psychologists. This stuff is highly complex and we shouldn't be putting that load on communities to actually carry this burden.. So Rowans walk and initiatives like that are so incredible to get recognition and to get the support of the community around, you know people who have been bereaved, but there also comes a point which as leaders, we need to put out hands up and say this stuff is highly complex, It needs to be in the hands of First Nations and psychologists and that's really what needs to happen, is getting access to those really complex services at every Australian has a right to.”
The Jilya Concert is on tomorrow.
There are only a few tickets left, make sure you get yours if you haven't: tinyurl.com/jilyawspd
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