Professor Pat Dudgeon, Thomas Mayo, and Professor Helen Milroy AM.
Embrace Co-Director Professor Helen Milroy AM has spoken about the importance of providing support to leading advocates after meeting with author and noted advocate for a Voice to Parliament, Thomas Mayo.
Professor Milroy, who met with Mr Mayo alongside longtime collaborator Professor Pat Dudgeon, said of Mayo, “He was one of the faces of the referendum and sometimes it is important to support people who are on that frontline because they actually take a lot of flak.”
“It’s really interesting that we want people to stand up and show leadership and then we beat them down; I think that’s what happened to him. There was a lot of pressure on him but where was the wellbeing support?”
Embrace and Kulunga Aboriginal Unit recently ran a Healing Tree event in support of Aboriginal social and emotional wellbeing in the wake of the referendum.
Mr Mayo, who is a Kaurareg Aboriginal and Kalkalgal, Erubamle Torres Strait Islander man, shared his book and journey forward after a difficult period of time. His book, Always Was, Always Will Be: The Campaign for Justice and Recognition Continues, is out now.
Professor Milroy also recently met with Kungarakan Elder and 2023 Senior Australian of the Year Professor Tom Calma AO at a function for the British monarch.
Before the royal visit, Professor Milroy attended the 5th Social and Emotional Wellbeing Gathering in Tarndanya (Adelaide), which featured a ‘Connection and Culture’ session with Ngangkari, traditional healers from the NPY Women’s Council, in remote central Australia.
Professor Milroy is the Stan Perron Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Perth Children’s Hospital and The University of Western Australia and an Honorary Research Fellow at The Kids Research Institute Australia, where she is Co-Director of the Embrace research collaboration.
A descendent of the Palyku people of the Pilbara region, Professor Milroy is Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and child psychiatrist. She was named the WA Australian of the Year for 2021 and went on to receive the Order of Australia in 2023.
Embrace is supported by principal partner Rio Tinto.
Professor Helen Milroy AM and Professor Tom Calma AO.
Professor Helen Milroy AM with Ngangkari traditional healers from the NPY Women's Council.