For those following Croakey’s #JustJustice campaign, please join us for two online events this week:
• Today shortly after 1230, an interview on Periscope with forensic psychiatrist Dr Marshall Watson, a Noongar man. At a Creating Futures conference session hosted by the Yarrabah community yesterday, Dr Watson gave a compelling presentation about how the criminal justice system is failing young Aboriginal people (see tweets below).
He said young people and the system are facing burnout: “The way the system is structured doesn’t work for Aboriginal people or for trauma. We’re dealing with a public health crisis of trauma in kids.”
Dr Watson also said that children with FASD need therapy, not custody, and that there is a large wave of cognitive disability in custody. (Editor’s note: this wording has been modified). Dr Watson is a member of the Youth Justice Board of WA and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Advisory Group.
The Periscope app can be freely downloaded and a quick Google will give the basic instructions on how to use it, including how to send questions and comments.
• From 10am to 2pm on Thursday, May 14, a #JustJustice tweet-a-thon will be hosted by Dr Mark Lock, an ARC Discovery Indigenous Research Fellow in the School of Medicine and Public Health, The University of Newcastle.
Dr Lock, who is guest tweeting for @IndigenousX this week, invites you to join the discussion on Twitter:
“Promote a cause to reduce over-imprisonment of Australia’s First Peoples. Tweet your facts, figures, infographics, weblinks, blogs, and social media content to @IndigenousX to make a real-world difference via social media.”
• And if you missed Summer May Finlay’s interview with Professor Tom Calma last week, you can now watch it here.
Theres not a lot of evidence that people with FASD benefit from any sort of therapy. Thats not to say that we should be pessimistic however most gains will come from environmental manipulation rather than psychological manipulation. FASD is a major issue and a major cause of dysfunction in many Aboriginal communities and needs further research and practical targeted interventions