Complex Trauma a Conduit for Inequity

Over the last century we as citizens of a united world Nation have been appalled by the atrocities that have been meted out to our brothers and sisters living in all corners of the world by their enemies or colonisers. Similarly we have been moved by the grief and loss of survivors of climatic disasters that frequent this planet. The Mental health profession has sought ways to assist those who have experienced these deep life-changing terrors. Trauma has been an event and part of every cultures story line. The recovery and healing from such traumas has been dealt with successfully over a millennium by Indigenous communities with their ways of knowing. However the dominant culture’s exclusion other cultural standpoints is to the detriment and wellbeing of those they seek to help. In Australia most Indigenous Australians have been prevented from receiving culturally appropriate healing in a manner that would meet their needs. The western oppressor uses many strategies to thwart healing and resilience of Indigenous peoples while simultaneously rolling out colonial policy targeted at causing harm, injury and genocide. The legacy of traumas has reverberated along many generations, re-traumatising Aboriginal peoples and their communities. The western solution to the disarray that this has caused has been to provide a [safe] lock up opportunity for those who suffer from significant mental health dis-ease as a result of unresolved grief, loss and untreated complex trauma. The safe lock-up places are prisons, keeping westerners safe and further punishing those already deemed not quite human and criminal. The numbers of Indigenous Australians in juvenile and adult detention centres under the auspice of corrections is escalating each year, especially the juveniles and women. This is the story of the journey and pathway to prison for Aboriginal Australians.