“It was widely recognised that current services were not meeting their targets and more needed to be done to involve the Aboriginal community.

“Indigenous people themselves are not being engaged in defining the issues and coming up with solutions, and being empowered and supported to implement those solutions,”

Professor Pat Dudgeon from the University of Western Australia said Aboriginal suicide rates are twice as high as other Australians, and they are rising.

“We know that people of Aboriginal background are more likely to be in the justice system and that’s true of people with mental health issues as well so if you’re an Aboriginal person with a mental health issue, you’re likely to face some really serious negative consequences,”

“Unfortunately what’s happened increasingly is that Aboriginal people have not been receiving services.”

Rod Astbury from the WA Association for Mental Health said untreated mental health conditions were also contributing to a disproportionate Indigenous incarceration rate.

You can read / research NACCHO’s 48 Suicide articles her

By the ABC National Reporting Team’s Courtney Bembridge

Charlie Kickett knows how close he came to death.

In 1997 he walked out of his family home, leaving behind his wife and children, knowing he might be gone forever unless he put some distance between himself and his rifle.

The Nyoongar elder from a small town 220 kilometres east of Perth called Doodlakine was part of the Stolen Generation and abused while on a mission.

Charlie had been battling mental illness for years, with no support.

“I thought ‘where am I going to go? Who am I going to go to?’ That’s when I got to the stage where I contemplated suicide,” he said.

“In fighting that feeling I walked out of my home and away from my family and things that were there that was a danger to me.

“Being in the police force, my work colleagues picked me up and sat me in front of the sergeant and I was a mess — I admit I was a mess.”

The sergeant ordered Charlie to see a psychologist, something he said he never would have done on his own.

“I never cried so much in all my life,” Mr Kickett said.

“She helped me through the roughest time of my life. I wouldn’t be here talking about it if it wasn’t for her, if it wasn’t for that sergeant giving me an order.”

Twenty years on, Charlie and his wife Helen are part of a project to help other Aboriginal people find mental health services.

Helen Kickett said suicide was taking a devastating toll on Aboriginal communities.

“We have had family members take their lives and to this day we don’t know why,” she said.

“It’s a really terrible thing to go through because families are left behind to pick up the pieces, and sometimes you wonder ‘well who’s next?’

“There’s help out there, you’ve just got to find where.”

“They turn to alcohol and drugs and think that’s the way out, but it’s not. It’s only ruining their lives and in the end, they take their lives.”

Indigenous suicide rates a ‘grim story’

Professor Pat Dudgeon from the University of Western Australia said Aboriginal suicide rates are twice as high as other Australians, and they are rising.

“It is a big problem,” she said.

“The statistics that we see do tell a rather grim story, and these include our suicide rates which are increasing, high rates of psychological stress, also rates of incarceration and so on, the list is endless.

“It is an Australian national story, it’s not restricted to one town, one state or one community.”

Professor Dudgeon said it was widely recognised that current services were not meeting their targets and more needed to be done to involve the Aboriginal community.

“Indigenous people themselves are not being engaged in defining the issues and coming up with solutions, and being empowered and supported to implement those solutions,” she said.

Professor Dudgeon said there was a lack of understanding among mental health practitioners and service providers about Aboriginal people, their culture and world view.

“There is cultural difference, they need different types of services,” she said.

She is part of a national empowerment program aimed at making services more accessible to Aboriginal people.

‘One sized fits all’ approach failing

Michael Wright set up the Looking Forward project which also helps mental health organisations cater to Indigenous clients.

“Aboriginal people have become quite distrustful of the system. They don’t believe the system actually works for them so we really have to gain trust,” he said.

“In the past, we’ve had a lot around the services themselves trying to get a model to fit where they believe Aboriginal people are at but never really asking Aboriginal people if that is what is suitable for them.

“A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work here. Aboriginal people do think and act and see the world differently and it’s about service providers perhaps trying to understand that.

“I think we can do better, I really do believe we can do better.”

Rod Astbury from the WA Association for Mental Health said untreated mental health conditions were also contributing to a disproportionate Indigenous incarceration rate.

“We know that people of Aboriginal background are more likely to be in the justice system and that’s true of people with mental health issues as well so if you’re an Aboriginal person with a mental health issue, you’re likely to face some really serious negative consequences,” he said.

“Unfortunately what’s happened increasingly is that Aboriginal people have not been receiving services.

“All of the outcomes are more negative if that response isn’t there.”

Professor Dudgeon and Mr Wright are part of a mental health conference being hosted by the WA Association for Mental Health in Perth this week.

The event will bring together mental health providers and patients to help strengthen the sector.

Mr and Mrs Kickett will act as conference ambassadors and the event’s organisers hope the discussions will shape a series of recommendations that can be taken to state and federal governments.