Acknowledgment: Creators of the artwork and storytellers being the narrative: Phyllis Gorey; Maisie Wayne; Ormay Gallagher; Geraldine Langdon; Teresa Dixon.
Women at Yuendumu: Early Childhood Centre, Yarrumpi Child and Family Centre.
Anne Bromhead, Remote Area Mental Health Nurse, NT Health.
Background: There is a critical gap in culturally safe, community-led resources designed to support the perinatal and infant social and emotional wellbeing (SEWB) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in the Northern Territory (NT). Existing perinatal mental health resources and screening tools are largely developed from Western paradigms, limiting their relevance and acceptability for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This project seeks to address this gap by developing a culturally grounded, strengths-based approach to perinatal and infant mental health and wellbeing.
Approach: In collaboration with Warlpiri and Arrernte women, men, and Elders from Yuendumu, a remote Aboriginal community 293 km northwest of Alice Springs, the NT Health Perinatal Mental Health Project is revitalising an existing community-developed artwork and story. Originally created a decade ago, this artwork visually represents a family’s perinatal journey, depicting the challenges, strengths, and key decision points that shape the early parent-infant relationship and influence lifelong wellbeing.
This initiative involves the adaptation of the artwork into a series of animated educational videos and the piloting of the artwork as a culturally responsive, strengths-based screening tool and care planning framework. The screening tool and care plan will be implemented through a yarning-based approach, ensuring alignment with Aboriginal ways of knowing, being, and doing.
Outcomes: The animation development is currently underway. The use of the artwork as a screening tool and care planning framework is yet to be trialled and evaluated.
Conclusion and Implications: This initiative addresses a significant gap in perinatal and infant mental health resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the NT. Currently, no validated perinatal mental health screening tools exist for this population in the NT, limiting early identification and culturally safe interventions. The development of a strengths-based, yarning-led screening and care planning framework has the potential to provide a more culturally acceptable and effective alternative for assessing and supporting perinatal mental health and SEWB within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This approach may contribute to improved engagement, early intervention, and positive long-term outcomes for parents, infants, and families.