Youth Suicide

The suicide rate for young people in First Nation communities is of catastrophic proportions, but there is so little discussion and attention given to it by government's, the media and mainstream Australia. Suicide is evidencing itself in high-income nations as demonstrative that social cohesion is fallacious. And there is much mention in the media of gun and drug-related violence, but it fails to and discuss the leading cause of lethal violence – suicide. In Australia, suicide prevention should be highly prioritised in the nation’s social agenda. [node:read-more:link]

Communities are urged to look out for each other over the festive season after seven people are believed to have suicided in WA's Kimberley region in the last seven weeks. Researchers have identified Christmas as a high-risk time for Aboriginal people considering self-harm. The most recent suicide occurred just two days before Christmas. Indigenous mental health commissioner Pat Dudgeon said the extra pressures around special foods, decorations, and gifts which are beyond the budget of many Aboriginal people. [node:read-more:link]

Tony Albert, the winner of this year's National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award 2014 says the work was inspired by the police shooting of two Aboriginal teenagers as they went on a joy ride in Kings Cross in 2012.

First Nation teenage boys are often walking targets for bullies, racists and the police, so in Tony Albert's art piece "We Can Be Heroes" stands defiant, challenging the viewer to take aim at the red bullseyes painted on their chests. The painting consists of 20 portraits, each young man, including the artist and his assistant, emerge bare-chested from a black background in a variety of proud and bold poses. [node:read-more:link]

In outback Australia, many young First Nations people aspire to work in the cattle industry and it is local employment. Here is another example of the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) leaving our First Nations youth high and dry and continue to employ non-Indigenous people. The young people are being deliberately excluded by the ILC who are deliberately sidestepping our First Nations people and employing non-Indigenous people, often on a contract basis. Here is a story by an insider of the treachery involved. [node:read-more:link]

Gerry Georgatos The Stringer October 9th, 2013 [node:read-more:link]

The 'Gone Too Soon' report found that Aboriginal suicide programs, run by Government and their services, not by Aboriginal controlled services, are fragmented and uncoordinated and continue to fail to stem the tide of suicides.

Gerry Georgatos The Stringer
4 October 2013

Only dead people come into the dreams of South Australian Elder Tauto Sansbury. He dreams of the deceased, of young lives lost. Mr Sansbury has dedicated his life to helping troubled Aboriginal youth, to reduce the rate of suicides. [node:read-more:link]

Gundjeihmi hand stencil (cameronreilly.com

Gerry Georgatos The Stringer 31 May 2013 [node:read-more:link]