title: Health workers' views of help seeking and suicide among Aboriginal people in rural Victoria.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore Aboriginal health workers' views about help seeking and suicide.
  
  
  METHODS
  One-to-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants. Data were analysed thematically.
  
  
  METHODS
  Njernda Aboriginal Corporation and the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community of Echuca, Victoria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty seven participants (15 men and 12 women) over the age of 18 years were interviewed, of which 24 were Aboriginal workers employed by Njernda Aboriginal Corporation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four themes emerged from the data: 'Difficulty in talking about one's problems'; 'Reasons for not talking with family and peers'; 'Lack of access to suitable formal supports' and 'Consequences of not talking about one's problems'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study unpacks the problem of help seeking for psychological distress among rural Aboriginal people and highlights its association with suicide and self-harm. The findings suggest that the barriers faced by Aboriginal people in sharing their traumatic emotions exist from childhood to older age groups and this inability to seek and obtain help can lead to self-harm and suicide. Similar studies on Aboriginal help seeking and suicide will help shed more light on this challenging issue.
authors.affiliation: School of Rural Health [MUDRIH], Monash University, Moe, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Anton N
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1804-5130
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Isaacs
authors.affiliation: School of Rural Health [MUDRIH], Monash University, Moe, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Keith
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sutton
authors.affiliation: Njernda Aboriginal Corporation, Echuca, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hearn
authors.affiliation: Njernda Aboriginal Corporation, Echuca, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: Gilbert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wanganeen
authors.affiliation: School of Indigenous Studies, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|National Mental Health Commission, Australia.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dudgeon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D014739:Victoria; D000092864:Suicide Prevention
keywords: Aboriginal; adolescents; children; help seeking; indigenous; men; psychological distress; rural; self-harm; social sharing of emotion; suicide; women