Using horses to assist in promoting Aboriginal wellbeing

Colonisation and subsequent repressive policies have wrought devastating changes in the lives of Aboriginal people in Australia, including ongoing intergenerational trauma. Enforced assimilation and separation of children from their families and culture - the Stolen Generations - has brought extreme emotional trauma, disadvantage and marginalisation (Bennett, 2013). These effects, rather than diminishing, have accumulated from gen­eration to generation and continue to contribute to poor social, economic and educational outcomes for Aboriginal people (Baldry, 2013). This is evidenced by continuing disadvantage for Aboriginal people across seven key life domains (material resources, employment, education and skills, health and disability, social connection, community and personal safety) (Dudgeon et al., 2016), leaving Aboriginal people excluded from many of the social, political and economic advantages experienced by the wider community (for example, housing, influence, power and adequate services to address needs). Aboriginal people have higher exposure to traumatic and stressful life events compared to non-Indigenous people, resulting in psychological distress that can lead to continued trauma and even suicide (Ridani et al., 2015; Shen et al., 2018). Aboriginal people continue to have suicide rates double that of non-Indigenous Australians (Commonwealth of Australia, 2017, p. 85), emphasising the need of culturally responsive therapeutic approaches to address both trauma and wellbeing.