A NEW agreement has been signed by Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC) and Ballarat Health Services (BHS) to work towards better health outcomes for the city’s Indigenous population.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The agreement to provide collaborative mental health care is the next step for the two organisations working together.
BADAC chief executive officer Karen Heap said it was about working together for the wellbeing of Indigenous residents.
“The Aboriginal community suffer from mental health issues more than the non-Aboriginal population, coming from a long history to do with the Stolen Generation,” Ms Heap said.
“It’s important to have a protocol, so our Indigenous population have access to services they know are safe.”
Ms Heap said there had been great improvement to Indigenous access to health services in Ballarat over the past 10 years.
“Because of the Stolen Generation, there are a lot of Aboriginals that are afraid that they will be separated from their loved ones or become isolated,” she said.
“Ballarat was a place where that happened, so the fear has become ingrained in some and is trans-generational.”
Ms Heap said that although she had seen a shift, mental health was still a concern.
“We want people to be well – be able to be employed, and bring up their families without fear.”
The relationship between the two groups started about a decade ago, and they first formalised the mental health partnership three years ago.
BHS mental health executive officer Tamara Irish said the organisation worked with BADAC to make sure its services were culturally appropriate and clinically sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal people.
BHS chief executive officer Andrew Rowe said the agreement worked to improve services in a complex area.
“We see with the Close the Gap statistics that Indigenous Australians historically have worse health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians,” he said.
“Through this, we hope to improve their lives and increase their life-span.”
nicole.cairns@fairfaxmedia.com.au