Abstract
Introduction: The Koori (Aboriginal term for Indigenous people from South Eastern Australia) Kids Mental Health Network is a child, adolescent and family psychiatric service based at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, a community health service which is controlled by the Victorian Koori community and based in Melbourne. The Koori Kids Mental Health Network is a collaborating group of Indigenous mental health workers from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and other health services together with a network of non-Indigenous workers from mainstream child and adolescent mental health services.
Method: This article is a distillation of a 3-hour workshop involving seven members of the Koori Kids Mental Health Network. It comprised an introduction regarding the development of the Network, a section on the process by which Indigenous and mainstream workers have developed their working relationships and fostered each other's development according to the needs of Indigenous families, and a section on the nature of the service provided to these patients.
Results: A child and adolescent psychiatric service, relevant to the needs of the Victorian Aboriginal community, has developed through the collaborative functioning of mainstream and aboriginal mental health workers. It has been critical for the development of such a service that it be coordinated by an Aboriginal mental health worker and located within a health service administered by the Aboriginal community. The workshop enabled presentation and discussion of material leading to an understanding of the Service and its development.