Very little is known about how Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara describe and explain mental health from their own perspective without resorting to western frameworks. This study used a social-contextual approach to understand how Anangu talk about the behaviours that are labelled as mental illness and provide explanations about the contexts they believe shape these behaviours, and how do Anangu support people who exhibit these behaviours? Seven senior Anangu were repeat interviewed between 1-2 hours by an Anangu researcher for a combined total time of 31 hours in a ‘yarning’ conversational approach. Interviews were analysed using the reflexive thematic analysis approach to explore the contextual features giving rise to mental health behaviours. Results indicated that in the APY lands there is complex interaction between fundamental ancient beliefs of cultural processes and the changing western influences since colonisation, and examples are given of each of these. This research paper fills a need and adds to the very small amount of Anangu mental health literature by providing an extensive overview of the mental health behaviours by directly speaking to Anangu themselves.

Indigo will consider what it might mean to embed consumer expertise and engagement, by drawing on her career as a consumer/survivor leader, and on her personal experiences of mental health services, coercion, trauma and madness. She will consider ways we can move beyond tokenism to navigate inherent tensions between consumer/survivor work and the mental health system, such as the conflict between self-determination and mental health laws, holding space for different worldviews, and the pull of the status quo versus the profound changes we could make, should we be brave enough.

Relationships are important for everyone living in regional and rural communities in Australia. They sustain communities through good times, hard times, and environmental challenges to the very existence of some communities. The tyranny of distance and physical labour upon which Australia’s rural communities were built contribute to a unique picture of how mental health and physical health interact and are responded to by and for the people who live in them.
Drawing on a national survey undertaken by Lived Experience Australia in collaboration with Equally Well, this talk will delve into the experiences and perspectives of people with lived experience of mental health challenges about how their physical health needs are considered within a rural context. Their perspectives highlight distinct differences that must be considered, in comparison to the experiences reported by people living in Australia’s urban areas. These variations across several physical health concerns suggest that GPs and mental health providers bring particular assumptions to their work with people with mental ill-health living in rural communities. These have important implications for widening health disparities for all members of rural communities. The important role of GPs and other healthcare providers is particularly apparent from the findings, with some surprising strengths in how physical health is responded to, with lessons relevant to healthcare providers anywhere. However, there are also a number of significant gaps and challenges highlighted by our national survey that remain to be addressed to ensure equal attention is paid to the mental and physical health of people living in Australia’s rural communities.