The University of Notre Dame’s Dawn Darlaston-Jones will join a team of leading researchers in an exciting and unique project designed to increase the number of Indigenous psychologists in Australia.
The project was made possible through a $350,000 grant from the Federal Government’s Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT).
Coordinator of the Behavioural Science program on the Fremantle campus, Associate Professor Darlaston-Jones, will join academics from the University of Western Australia, Charles Sturt University, Macquarie University, the University of NSW, the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the Western NSW Local Health District as part of the collaboration.
Assoc Prof Darlaston-Jones said the research had the potential to change lives. “Aboriginal students don’t yet see psychology as a legitimate post-secondary option and non-Indigenous students are rarely exposed to the role that the discipline played in our colonial history – and both these aspects need to change,” she said.
The aim of the project is to design, implement and evaluate curricular and support frameworks in psychology and mental health programs in order to maximise recruitment and retention of Indigenous students, and to integrate Indigenous knowledge and content in psychology for all students.
“The degree is an exciting new discipline that explicitly positions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as First Nations with Sovereign rights,” Assoc Prof Darlaston-Jones said.
“[It] opens up new opportunities for conversations around reconciliation and the shared history of colonisation.” – CNS