INTERVIEW: Could First Nations methods improve mental health treatment?

The latest report on Closing the Gap Targets, released last month, found just four of nineteen targets are on track. Among those targets Australia is failing to meet, the country is moving backward when it comes to reducing suicide rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which are now more than three times higher than for non-Indigenous Australians.First Nations health advocates and practitioners are urgently calling for investment in new approaches to preventative mental health support that are led by First Nations wisdom and experience. SBS reporter Angelica Waite, has speaking with Clinton Schultz, a Gomeroi Gamilaroi man, and Director of First Nations Strategy and Partnerships with Black Dog Institute. For more than a decade, he's been a pioneering voice when it comes to finding new models for preventative care that reflect the depth, complexity and connectedness of First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing. She started by asking Mr Schultz how he came to study and work in the field of psychology.

Clinton Scultz Source: Supplied

Listen to Australian and world news and follow trending topics with SBS News Podcasts.