A school-based initiative for First Nations students has shown promising results in reducing suicidal ideation through connection to culture.
Piloted by Indigenous owned and managed youth mental health organisation Youth2Knowledge in conjunction with Griffith University’s Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, Project Yarn Circle delivered five weekly sessions to 276 students across nine schools in southern Queensland.
The program was centred around the traditional concept of yarn circles, a model that has facilitated exchanges of knowledge by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for thousands of years.
Students were engaged in cultural knowledge and practices including storytelling, painting, learning about bush tucker, dance and Indigenous languages with Elders, artists and local cultural knowledge facilitators.
Lead researcher Mandy Gibson said First Nations young people have been found to experience markedly higher suicidality than non-Indigenous youth in Australia, yet there have been very few effective programs to address or reduce this issue.
“We need to be more preventative and proactive in this space,” Ms Gibson said.
“We know First Nations young people who die by suicide are less likely to have ever had any support within the classic mental health support systems, so we need to actually reduce risk and increase protective factors in community, not just wait and hope we catch those who need help before it’s too late.
Ms Gibson said discrimination is one of the stronger risk factors for Indigenous suicide, which is why building on connection to culture, identity and hope for the future are key to improving outcomes.
“Often these young people don’t see their own future very clearly, but bringing Elders and cultural knowledge holders in to work with them helps them know they are part of a proud heritage that connects hundreds and thousands of years of the past to centuries into the future.”
It’s hoped the program can continue to reach and help more young people, and possibly even be expanded to run camps where participants can be taken out on Country, or integrating past attendees as leaders or facilitators in subsequent years to further build the sense of community and cultural continuity.
“What we’ve seen so far shows us we can try new and different things, and it does work,” Ms Gibson said.
“We’ve had decades of Elders saying we need to promote connection to culture to reduce suicide risk and we’ve got evidence that after participating in the cultural program, suicidal ideation among participants significantly reduced.
“They had higher self-esteem, higher reasons for living and were looking forward to the future.
“Even our facilitators have benefited from the experience.
“While they all have their own busy lives and competing priorities, they’ve appreciated the chance to come together and share their knowledge and to see how much value they’re adding to others’ lives.
“It’s been wonderful seeing young peoples’ confidence and pride grow.”
