Creating Futures 2015 Conference
AITHM was pleased to be amongst the sponsors of the Creating Futures 2015 conference, held in Cairns from 11-14 May.
Commencing in the local Aboriginal Community of Yarrabah, 60 kilometres from Cairns, Creating Futures 2015 focused on the mental and physical health and wellbeing of Indigenous peoples from Australia, New Zealand and the residents of Australia’s neighbouring island nations.
The Conference focused on people living with and recovering from mental and/or physical illness or disability in remote and tropical areas.
Creating Futures 2015 saw a number of AITHM researchers join with international and national guests for a series of presentations and workshops over the course of the four-day event.
These included:
- 'Behaviour and Disease' chaired by Professor Robyn McDermott.
- 'Unintended consequences of Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) in Queensland: changes in drug and alcohol use' presented by Jan Robertson and Alan Clough.
- 'Doing it hard in the bush: refocussing on health outcomes' by Kenny Lawson and Malcolm McDonald.
The conference also included opportunities for wider community participation, with AITHM and The Cairns Institute presenting a public forum on mental health.
Facilitated by public health journalist and author Melissa Sweet, founder of the public health blog Croakey, featured speakers were Vikram Patel, Professor of International Mental Health and Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow in Clinical Science at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Aboriginal Australian politician Allison Anderson, Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for Namatjira, and Marshall Watson, a descendant of the Noongar people of the South West of WA and a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists.