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School Psychological Practice with Indigenous Students in Remote Australia

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Handbook of Australian School Psychology

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Abstract

This chapter presents a brief snapshot of Australian Indigenous culture and history and discusses the challenges and opportunities of providing school psychological services in remote Indigenous communities in Australia. It is a unique and rewarding experience to work as a school psychologist in this context. Available research on this topic is limited, and some of the information presented are ‘pearls of wisdom’ gleaned and shared by the three authors’ (Edwards, White and Wright) extensive practical experience as educators and school psychologists working in rural and remote Australia, with Indigenous students and their families. The chapter is specifically intended for psychologists considering working in remote Australia, and who are not Indigenous themselves.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    LivingWorks Australia is a private social enterprise for suicide intervention training for community helpers of all kinds to work in this intervention context. Resources, training and support are available at: http://www.livingworks.com.au/programs/asist/

  2. 2.

    Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

  3. 3.

    Lililwan is ‘all of the little ones’—a local language (Kimberley Kriol) word meaning.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Territory Department of Education, 4821, Darwin, NT, 0801, Australia

    Sue Edwards & Lorolei White

  2. Department of Education—Western Australia, Kimberley Education Regional Office, 10 Coghlan Street, 2142, Broome, WA, 6725, Australia

    Edith Wright

  3. Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Monica Thielking

Authors
  1. Sue Edwards
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  2. Lorolei White
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  3. Edith Wright
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  4. Monica Thielking
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sue Edwards .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

    Monica Thielking

  2. St. John’s University, Jamaica, New York, USA

    Mark D. Terjesen

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Edwards, S., White, L., Wright, E., Thielking, M. (2017). School Psychological Practice with Indigenous Students in Remote Australia. In: Thielking, M., Terjesen, M. (eds) Handbook of Australian School Psychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45166-4_3

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