— Involvement of First Nations People in Research

This article contextualises my perspectives of Indigenous knowledge within a cultural cosmology, used to address the suicide epidemic in an Indigenous Community in the Far North Queensland Tropics of Australia. I use my personal narrative from the philosophical standpoint theory of an Indigenous female with first-hand experience of living under the residues of the Queensland Government Act (1897). Through the lens of a social constructivist worldview and theoretical underpinnings of Indigenist research, I give honour to Indigenous knowledge, cultural values and privilege the voices of local people. As a PhD researcher at James Cook University, I apply to my research, “Healing after experiencing the suicide of a young person—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives informed by Indigenous Knowledges” with three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. This research also aligns itself to the JCU Strategic Intent, Peoples and Society in the Tropics.

In June 2018, the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention (CBPATSISP) facilitated a workshop to investigate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived experiences of suicide. The aims of the workshop were to ensure the meaningful inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in an overall Lived Experience Project (the Project). Information was sought about possible differences regarding the lived experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to that of the non-Indigenous population. Another aim was to examine the need for a specific Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived experience definition and network.

This literature review examines the question how is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lived experience of suicide the same or different to that of other Australians, and surrounding issues of genuine involvement of Indigenous peoples within the suicide prevention field. It intends to inform relevant stakeholders, from community-led suicide prevention initiatives to national policy makers, of the research and literature around lived experience expertise in Indigenous suicide prevention. Guided by outcomes and recommendations from both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Lived Experience Project (the Project) this review contributes to a gap in existing knowledge regarding culturally responsive suicide prevention.

National responses to general population suicide began in the 1990s and include the current 1999 National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS). Within the latter, the Living is For Everyone (LiFE) Framework is an evidence-based national strategic policy framework for suicide prevention. In May 2013, the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Strategy (NATSISPS) was launched.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) arose from Indigenous community members, leaders in mental health and suicide prevention and the Australian Government who shared an intention that the implementation of the NATSISPS, and the funds pledged towards it, should be impactful and should reduce suicide in Indigenous communities. The parties also shared concern that more formal approaches should be adopted to identify a sufficiently robust evidence-base on which NATSISPS implementation could proceed.