by Sheree Lowe

Content warning: This article discusses suicide. Readers are advised to read with care with their social emotional wellbeing in mind. 

Two thousand days since the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System report was tabled in Parliament and during that time, at least 121 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died by suicide.

One hundred and twenty-one lives.

One hundred and twenty-one Communities forever changed.

One hundred and twenty-one families who should still have their loved one sitting at the dinner table.

Aboriginal people continue to experience some of the highest rates of psychological distress in the country, yet we continue to face significant barriers to accessing care that is culturally safe and grounded in our ways of healing.

Between 2018 and 2023, the suicide rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria was nearly three times that of non-Indigenous Victorians.

Yet despite these alarming figures – mainstream mental health systems continue to fall short.

The impacts of colonisation, the forced removal from Country, racism and intergenerational trauma cannot be separated from mental health.

Healing for Aboriginal people has always been about more than treating illness – it is about restoring disrupted connections to Country, Culture, family, Community and identity.

For decades, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations have said that mainstream mental health services alone cannot solve this crisis.

VACCHO and the Balit Durn Durn Centre have long been calling for the establishment of two Healing Centres to address the historical and ongoing traumas experienced by Aboriginal people in Victoria.

The two Centres require an investment of $36.2 million over 4 years to deliver one regional and one metropolitan Centre.

These Healing Centres will be spaces that support and nurture strong, confident individuals, families and Communities that are rich in Culture and thrive in spirit, mind, body and soul.

The Healing Centres model has been shaped through almost 3,600 hours of Community consultation, drawing on evidence-based and culturally informed approaches that integrate cultural and clinical healing.

It places the trauma of disconnection from Country, family, and Culture at its centre – reimagining what holistic wellbeing means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria.

Improving the mental health of Aboriginal Victorians also makes sound economic sense.

Early intervention modelling has demonstrated that a Healing Centre model of care is estimated to save $38 million over ten years in avoided costs, with the present value of the reduced costs to the health system over 10 years estimated at $100.8 million.

These are places where people can reconnect with Culture while receiving integrated support for mental health, alcohol and other drugs, trauma and social and emotional wellbeing.

Importantly, they are designed and will be governed by Aboriginal communities.

We know that self-determination produces better outcomes. We know that Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations consistently deliver culturally safe care because they are trusted by the Communities they serve.

To us, Culture is not an optional extra – it is a protective factor that strengthens our identity, belonging and resilience and this is backed up by published evidence.

Governments have responded to Aboriginal mental health by funding short-term programs, rather than building the long-term infrastructure that our Communities have repeatedly identified as being essential.

The Victorian Government promised to deliver every recommendation from the Royal Commission but this one remains unfulfilled. The Royal Commission challenged Victoria to build a mental health system that genuinely meets people where they are. And for Aboriginal people, that place is, and always has been, on Country and surrounded by Culture and Community.

Imagine if every Aboriginal person experiencing trauma or severe distress had somewhere they could go where culture wasn’t an afterthought – but the foundation of clinical care.

A place where they could reconnect with Country, spend time with Elders, receive counselling alongside cultural healing, and begin rebuilding hope in an environment that understood them.

One hundred and twenty-one lives is enough.

Two thousand days is long enough.

Our People should not and cannot wait another 2,000 days for the healing they were promised.