Sharing home-grown solutions – Indigenous men’s groups
meet in Cairns
May 20 2009
Aboriginal men from across Queensland are meeting in Cairns this week to share
stories of success in suicide prevention, improved family relationships and personal
healing. More than sixty men from more than a dozen men’s groups are meeting to
review their experiences and successes under a groundbreaking men’s suicide
prevention program, Building Bridges, funded by the Department of Health & Ageing,
as part of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy.
The program initially drew on the work of Yarrabah’s Yaba Bimbie men’s group to
establish sustainable community-based approaches to build resilience and reduce
suicide risk and self-harm by Indigenous men and boys.
Les Baird, one of Yaba Bimbie’s founders, said a spate of suicides in Yarrabah in the
1990s forced local men to draw on their own strengths and culture to develop ways
of supporting men who were struggling and at risk of suicide or self harm.
“We realised that we had to devise our own methods of supporting men at risk and in
partnership with James Cook University and the University of Queensland we
developed an “empowerment” approach to building wellbeing among our men,” said
Les Baird. “With our university partners we’ve been able to develop a number of
programs which have worked and reduced the levels of suicide and violence in
Yarrabah.
“The Building Bridges project then allowed us to share these strategies with three
other communities; Hopevale and Kowanyama in Cape York and Dalby in central
Queensland through meetings, workshops training sessions and normal social
activities,” said Les Baird. “The key to our success has been reliance on our own
strengths and experiences and not waiting for health services to fix the problem.”
Associate Professor Komla Tsey from the JCU School of Indigenous Australian
Studies said his team had worked with Yarrabah men to share their experiences as a
way of encouraging other men to seek local solutions based on their own strengths.
“The Yaba Bimbie Men’s Group, the Family Well Being Empowerment program and
the Life Promotion Officer project are all successful strategies developed at
community level to deal with specific community health issues,” said Tsey. “These
home-grown solutions have improved family relationships, reduced substance
misuse and enabled Aboriginal men to start healing themselves.”
Tsey said that PNG men who are facing similar challenges are attending the meeting
and keen to understand their Australian counterparts’ methods. The Cairns meeting
is being held at the Cairns Colonial Club until 3.00pm Thursday May 21.
For further information: Alastair Harris CRCAH Communications – 0409 658 177
NEWS 
