Public Health

Mental Health

Our mental health program includes the successful Personal Helpers and Mentors program, and we provide support for people with major disorders with medication regimes through our health centres. The team also provide community group programs, one to one and family counselling services. Referrals are made to other agencies on and off the Lands as considered appropriate on a professional basis.

Personal Helpers and Mentors

PHaMs is a mental health support program. The aim of the program is to improve the independence, participation and lifetime wellbeing of people severely affected by mental illness, including building personal resilience and supporting them to sustainably manage the impacts on their lives. The team is made up of locally trained people who are supported by the program coordinator and a psychologist. Our team provides services tailored to participants that are strength-based, recovery-focused, and culturally appropriate through community consultation, employing local cultural brokers, peer support workers and case workers, and working in partnership with other services in the community.

Alcohol and Other Drugs

The AOD program provides support and referral services for people and families across the Lands experiencing difficulties as a result of alcohol and other drug use. The model of service is based on community engagement, brief intervention and family therapy. There is a referral base to rehabilitation services off the Lands. The service providers work closely with other agencies across the Lands to provide comprehensive interventions and support for clients on a multi-agency basis. Referral and access to the program comes via personal contact or through the clinics, the courts or other agencies. The team consists of Alcohol and Other Drugs health professionals and locally engaged staff. 

Tackling Indigenous Smoking

This program is primarily designed to encourage and support people on the Ngaanyatjarra Lands to reduce their use of tobacco, with a long-term goal of reducing the risk and burden of chronic disease. This program utilises strategies of culturally appropriate community engagement to deliver health promotion activities, build the capacity of a local workforce, collaborate with local services and organisations and support the delivery of effective clinical intervention. Team members are based in Warburton and Warakurna and provide outreach services to the other communities, focusing on reducing the uptake of smoking in youth, reducing the number of women smoking during pregnancy and reducing the exposure of all community members to second hand smoke.

Environmental Health

Our Environmental Health team recruits local people and works collaboratively with other groups (such as Housing) to deliver services and provide education to improve the environmental health of each community. This program operates in Blackstone, Jameson, Warakurna, Tjukurla, Kiwirrkurra, Wanarn and Wingellina communities.