- Author Emma Carlin, Shannon Cowdrey-Fong, Zaccariah Cox, Jenni Lowe, Lorraine Anderson, Pat Dudgeon
- Publish date 11 November 2025
- Type Report
- Documents
- Health service delivery
Summary
Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health (2025)
This research article explores how Aboriginal people in the Kimberley understand and enact self-efficacy in relation to social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) help-seeking and self-management. Drawing on 22 in-depth interviews with community members, the study re-analyses qualitative data from the Wellbeing Informed Care – Kimberley consultation.
The findings highlight the central role of family, culture and connection to Country as key enablers of self-efficacy and wellbeing. Participants described ‘strength’ as grounded in cultural identity, relationships and personal reflection, shaping their motivation to seek support and take action to improve their SEWB. Engagement in culturally safe services, Aboriginal-led groups and trusted therapeutic relationships were also identified as critical supports.
The study concludes that self-efficacy can be strengthened over time through culturally responsive environments that foster mastery, peer learning, encouragement and emotional regulation. It provides practical insights for strengthening SEWB program design within ACCHS and reinforces the importance of community-led, strengths-based approaches in advancing health equity across the Kimberley.
Projects
Towards well-being informed primary health care across the Kimberley Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services
Across the Kimberley region, rates of psychological distress, self-harm, and suicide among Aboriginal people remain disproportionately high. A recent audit of mental health presentations across remote Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in the Kimberley, conducted by The University of Western Australia (UWA) research team, found that staff and clinicians spend significant time responding to patients in acute distress. This has led to inefficiencies in clinics operations and ineffective treatment outcomes for patients. This project will test a new, on-the-ground approach to health service delivery that is informed by an understanding of how trauma affects people’s lives, their service needs, and their patterns of service use. Importantly, this model can be delivered using existing resources. The model of care “wraps around” patients, providing support at every touchpoint – from the driver who first engages with them on the way to the clinic, to the clinic and community staff who welcome them, through to the treating clinicians. It re-frames how health staff engage with distressed patients, shifting from a lens of “non-compliance” to one of empathy and understanding – recognising the life circumstances that have led the patient to seek care. Project objectives: Develop and deliver a pilot program to test the implementation of a “wrap around”, trauma-informed model of care across five ACCHS in the East Kimberley, aiming to improve outcomes for both patients and staff. Measure the impact of the new approach on health-seeking behaviours, reductions in violent presentations, incidents of self-harm, suicide ideation, and psychological distress, as well as improvements in clinical staff retention and job satisfaction. Deliver a translation and implementation plan that demonstrates the success of the pilot and can be replicated across other ACCHOs in northern Australia. Build an evidence base to inform further government investment in trauma-informed models of healthcare delivery.