Mind, body, spirit: co-benefits for mental health from climate change adaptation and caring for country in remote Aboriginal Australian communities

N S W Public Health Bull. 2010 May-Jun;21(5-6):139-45. doi: 10.1071/NB10030.

Abstract

The evident and unresolved health disparity between Aboriginal and other Australians is testament to a history of systematic disenfranchisement. Stigma, lack of appropriate services and the expense of delivering services in remote settings make it impossible to adequately address mental health needs, including suicide, solely using a mainstream medical approach. Nor do mainstream approaches accommodate the relationship between Aboriginal health and connectedness to land, whether traditional or new land, remote or metropolitan. This review describes how caring-for-country projects on traditional lands in remote locations may provide a novel way to achieve the linked goals of climate change adaptation with co-benefits for social and emotional wellbeing.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Climate Change*
  • Health Services, Indigenous*
  • Humans
  • Mental Health*
  • Mind-Body Therapies
  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander*
  • Residence Characteristics