Over the last half-century, Indigenous Australia has been transformed by a number of political and social forces that have been accompanied by changing patterns of mental disorders. While the excess vulnerability of Indigenous Australians to adverse mental health outcomes is widespread, it is changing with time and is unevenly distributed.

One professional dedicated to finding out more about mental health amongst remote Indigenous Australians is this week’s podcast guest, Professor Ernest Hunter.

After completing medical school at the University of Western Australia, Professor Ernest Hunter trained in adult, child and cross cultural psychiatry and public health in the United States. Returning to Australia in the mid-1980s, he undertook doctoral research in the Kimberley, and worked as a clinician and academic in Cape York and the Torres Strait until 2016. Ernest has continued to lead a now decade-long initiative in developing leadership in mental health with participants from the western Pacific.

Tune in as I speak with Professor Ernest Hunter about his research and discoveries in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health in remote Australia.