Mind, body, spirit: co-benefits for mental health from climate change adaptation and caring for country in remote Aboriginal Australian communities.
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.
Berry
Helen L
HL
Faculty of Health, The University of Canberra. Helen.Berry@canberra.edu.au
Butler
James R A
JR
Burgess
C Paul
CP
King
Ursula G
UG
Tsey
Komla
K
Cadet-James
Yvonne L
YL
Rigby
C Wayne
CW
Raphael
Beverley
B
D057231:Climate Change; D006303:Health Services, Indigenous; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D026441:Mind-Body Therapies; D012111:Residence Characteristics