More to be done on social and emotional wellbeing

STORY BY JILLIAN BOWIE PICS SUPPLIED BY DEBRA NONA & MARTINE SLEVIN

Expert guest speakers and attendees from across the country and surrounding communities were welcomed to Badhu Island for Ninu Wakainthamam Midhikidh –

The State of Mind: Wellbeing Symposium, a mental health and social and emotional wellbeing workshop held over three days last week.

The idea was for services to sit together to try to understand how to bridge the service delivery gaps through listening and workshopping with community.

“There is still a lot to do,” Event Facilitator Debra Nona said.

“We need the whole community to come together and participate in these workshops so that they gain a better understanding of mental health, social and emotional wellbeing, and the services that are available regionally and nationally.”

She said it was important to include keynote presenters who were First Nations experts, who knew and understood Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders and the daily challenges they faced – mentally, emotionally, physically, socially, and environmentally.

Keynote presenters included Black Dog Institute Psychotherapist, a Yawuru and Bunaba woman, Vicki McKenna, and the daughter of Mabuyag Elder Mr Patrick Whop, Nephrologist Associate Professor Dr Jaqui Hughes BMed FRACP PhD.

Ninu Wakainthamam Midhikidh, or What are your thoughts?, was the theme of the event, which was aimed at addressing overall mental health and wellbeing, and how it affected our everyday lives.

“All services need to gain ownership of the future,” Debra said.

“We have received a lot of positive feedback from participants and are pursuing to begin organising another one in the near future.”