Mental Health Model

This paper draws from a brief literature review and the fieldwork done by them in small, remote Indigenous communities in Australia from 2006 to 2011. It explores the contexts for what seems to work, and critically re-think the concept of mental health. Mental health can be either neurological or contextual, so treatment differs. It is essential to convince the importance of mental health well-being in communities as for them it’s a strange concept. For indigenous people, family and social relationship are important and not as of western style of relationship. The western model does not work with indigenous people for promoting mental health wellbeing as they give importance to the individual but indigenous people consider community and family as well. The mental health promotional program should be contextual as each community have unique customs and culture, and the way of living and maintain relationship differ, the methodology introduce to promote

Community development must be an integral strategy for tackling mental health and illness in disadvantaged and marginalized communities. From the study, it is evident that mental illness should not be judged only on the mental distress but also based on the contextual factors. Generalization is seen as common than looking at the context. The discrimination and poverty which people have gone through can be a reason for the mental distress but it cannot be generalized as mental illness without looking the context. The literature has given an ample evidence to support the above statement. The research highlights the importance of contextual based evidence on policies formulated not only based on evidence, also indicate how essential it is to add community-based intervention in mental health treatment rather than focusing on an