When Julie Schubert was a teenager, the weight of the world pushed her into the grips of one of the darkest periods of her life.
For weeks and weeks, that felt endless, she tried to latch onto some sense of light. The many counsellors she saw did not seem to understand the experiences she’d had leading up to this moment as an Aboriginal woman.
“I just hit this real dark point,” she said.
After surviving a close-call, she managed to get through with a bit of help but another stressful incident a few years later brought her back.
“I’ve just lived with depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation,” she said. “It takes over your whole life, like you can’t sleep properly or concentrate on what you’re doing in the daytime. You don’t want to look in the mirror.”
Adding to the heaviness of it all was the pain that came with having to reach out for help.
“I felt shame about it,” she said. “I knew it was serious but I didn’t know how to go about it.”
Julie feels very fortunate that she got through this intensely difficult time. The experience moved her to want to help others through their battles so she began work as a mental health clinician.
“It’s been really rewarding when I’ve had clients that I’ve seen [and] six months later or a year, even a couple of years after that, after they’ve gone away and continued on, and you can see they have changed their life,” she said.
“They’ve started working again and when they say, ‘Thank you so much, I really appreciate your help, I feel better than I did before’, it’s really lovely to see that.”
Looking back at her own journey to recovery, she says having access to Indigenous or culturally-sensitive mental healthcare counsellors would have been a great benefit.
It’s the reason she completed a Health Science degree and is studying Psychology as a First Nations cadet at university.
Now an emerging academic, Julie wants to build a career in research so she can help develop solutions in healthcare and create better outcomes for Indigenous people.
“I’m just beginning to be mentored in research in my cadetship now,” she said. “We are working on a project in [mental health] so it’s really exciting.”
Julie is driven by the underlying purpose of bringing down barriers for Indigenous people that prevent them from enjoying vibrant and healthy lives.
In remote and regional areas, she says there needs to be Indigenous or culturally-educated healthcare professionals like psychologists who live locally and are invested in the community.
“You don’t want to be travelling for hours and hours to go to a counselling session,” she said. “It just doesn’t work for a lot of people.”
In the face of systemic inequity and the ongoing fight for self-determination, she says a lot of trust also needs to be rebuilt.
One thing that could make a powerful difference is access to higher education so more Indigenous people can get qualified to work in mental health and other healthcare spaces.
“We are slowly increasing the amount of Aboriginal people working in mental health so that’s encouraging for me,” she said. “I also want to educate non-Indigenous people about how to work with Aboriginal people a bit better.”
To improve the heartbreaking number of First Nations people Australia is losing to suicide, all points of contact with health and welfare need to work better. These spaces must feel safe so people do not avoid them and fall through the cracks.
As such, Julie says a holistic approach is important, which means addressing housing shortages and providing services that foster overall wellbeing.
Instead of relying solely on counselling to fix mental health, she says, people need regular opportunities to connect with each other such as weekly women’s circles, men’s groups or activities like crafts or music.
“They need to do something positive – that’s ongoing,” she said. “The counselling is really helpful but in the end, you’re living in the community and you need to do positive things apart from work. It gives social connection. And I think early intervention for young people when they seem to be at risk of challenging behaviours.”
Julie says signs of psychological stress can often be missed by people experiencing it and others around.
“So if you don’t know that you’re not feeling well, or if kids don’t know how to recognise those signs, how are they going to know that they can reach out and ask for help?” she said.
“I know parents have a bit of a responsibility but some people don’t think about that and [some] kids are brought up by someone else in the family, and that’s not their priority and the priority is just day-to-day living.
“I really believe [we should have] some more mental health education promotion through social media and television and books, where kids can learn about their feelings, thoughts and behaviours … that might be something we can do.”
Julie’s NAIDOC message to remember all year:
“We know what’s happened in the past, but I just think we all really need to move forward together and concentrate on the positive things that are happening for all our people, not just for Aboriginal people, but for all our people, and come up with a culture between us. And we still celebrate the aspects of each of our cultures as well and that’s what NAIDOC week is about.”
To mark NAIDOC Week 2024, Women’s Agenda has produced a special edition eMagazine in honour and celebration of incredible First Nations women trailblazing across different sectors in healthcare. Thanks to Charles Sturt University’s First Nations Pathways for its support bringing this eMagazine to life.
If you, or someone you know, are feeling worried or no good, we encourage you to connect with 13YARN on 13 92 76 (24 hours/7 days) and talk with an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Crisis Supporter.
You can contact Lifeline on 131 114.