Wayne's Story

How Anangu are leading vital mental health programs for young men

People living in the NPY Lands have very limited access to mental health support. The APY lands currently has one mental health nurse and the Ngaanyatjarra lands has a visiting mental health support every 6 weeks.

Senior Anangu talk about the lack and need of mental health support for young people in the NPY region. They recognize many factors resulting in the poor mental health of some young people in remote communities, this includes intergenerational trauma, poverty and lack of opportunities.

Ngangkari (traditional healers) have looked after people’s physical and emotional health for thousands of years. We support ngangkari to care for mental health within their communities, valuing both western and traditional mental health practices.

Uti Kulintjaku Watiku is just one of our mental health initiatives. Led by senior Anangu men for young men, it focuses on increasing mental health understanding and preventing family violence. Often struggling for funding, these vital programs are at risk.

^{Members of the Uti Kulintjaku Watiku team in SA}

Improving mental health & preventing family violence

Uti Kulintjaku Watiku is a ground breaking men’s group consisting of senior Anangu men and young men from the NPY region who come together to prevent family violence and support young men’s wellbeing in remote communities.

The program is based on learning reciprocity between senior men and health professionals. Senior men then conduct workshops in community, act as role models and help to spread mental health messages at a grass root level.

The project applies the Uti Kulintjaku Iwara way of working that places culture first and strengthens intergenerational relationships.

Senior men talk about the lack of and need for mental health support for young people in the NPY region. They recognize many factors resulting in the poor mental health of some young people in remote communities, this includes intergenerational trauma, poverty and lack of opportunities.

The team members highlight the need for more support to facilitate intergenerational healing camps on the lands. These camps provide safe therapeutic spaces where young men can more effectively listen and learn without distraction and be immersed in Anangu culture, knowledge and practice.

As one of the senior Watiku member said: “Taking the young men out camping to get them out of community for a couple days… when they go camping, they get healed”.

Younger men have spoken about how being on Country with the senior men strengthens their spirit and helps them to manage their anxiety, depression and anger.

By taking those important steps and facilitating those healing camps, the Watiku team members have contributed to improving the wellbeing and mental health of many young men by increasing their sense of connection, role modelling positive behaviours and teaching cultural knowledge.

Learn more about the NPYWC Ngangkari program

How restrictions and stretched services have taken a toll

Women and children have been placed in vulnerable circumstances unable to flee violence, access sexual assault screening and police support…some have been facing homelessness in an effort to keep themselves safe amongst Covid restrictions. How Covid has placed women and children at greater risk of domestic and family violence under a complex landscape of stretched services, border barriers and busy health systems.

More barriers for an already stretched service

In remote regions where there is already significant limitations in regard to domestic & family violence support, Covid -19 restrictions have created greater complexity for women and children accessing support services. This is especially true in the NPY region placed at the intersection of 3 state & territory borders.

In early February, some remote communities were inaccessible to police and airstrips were closed due to flooding. These communities were only accessible by roads with services across borders.

Despite urgent requests for cross-border police responses to domestic & family violence, enforced border restrictions meant approval for police responses were denied, leaving some women and children at risk of serious harm.

Impact of busy health systems for women experiencing domestic violence

Reduced RFDS capacity due to covid-19 related backlogs and airstrip flooding has created precarious circumstances for women and children experiencing violence related injuries.

Women and children have been, at times, unable to access urgent medical review, mental health support, sexual assault screening and emergency evacuation following serious Domestic Violence incidents.

In one instance our service had to a charter private flight to ensure safety for a young woman who had experienced and remained at risk of extreme domestic violence.

Women locked out of safety

Women in urban centres, such as Kalgoorlie, Alice Springs, Adelaide and Port Augusta have been forced to navigate vaccine mandates, lockouts and lockdowns, within an overwhelmed service system where crisis accommodation options have been limited.

Support services have been under pressure and have been frustrated by blanket Covid-19 responses. They often have not been able to provide financial or practical support for women and children who have either fled from violence in community or are experiencing violence in town but are unable to return home due to reduced transport, border closures and the cost of quarantine requirements.

Our service, despite having limited funds, and at great expense, continue to fill service gaps across all of these regional hubs. In an effort to ensure women and children are not forced into homelessness or the child protection system we continue to fund alternative accommodation, food and transport outside our service.

This has not only resulted in significant financial strain on the service but is also contributing to an under-resourced and overwhelmed workforce.

Increase in demand

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak, we have seen an increased demand for our service. Our team have been receiving around 600-700 calls a month from women. The calls could be for anything from emergency food relief, homelessness support to urgent support for safety.

What needs to be done

Despite the increased complexity of responses and limited resources, we continue to try our best to explore innovative ways to support women experiencing violence on the Lands.

To keep women and children from remote communities safe from domestic & family violence we urgently seek:

• Stronger cross-border responses and clearer exemptions for border crossings, quarantine and return to community for women and children fleeing domestic & family violence.
• Transportation options to support women and children to return to, or leave, their communities.
• Financial support and options for emergency accommodation for women in urban settings fleeing violence
• Increased financial support to enable greater emergency financial relief for transport, accommodation and material goods for women and children fleeing violence.

Now more than ever, we recognise that responses to preventing and ending violence are most powerful when they draw upon and uphold, the pre-existing knowledge and resources inherent within Anangu culture, families and communities.

Find out more about the NPYWC Domestic & Family Violence Service