Ngak Min Health provides comprehensive and culturally appropriate primary health care services to Djarragun College students from both campuses, their families and the wider community.
The burden of disease for Indigenous Australians is more than twice that of non-Indigenous Australians. The major causes for this gap are wide-ranging with mental health, cardiovascular disease and chronic illnesses being the main contributors. To close the gap on Indigenous health outcomes, it’s vital to intervene early.
Ngak Min seeks to improve health, wellbeing and educational outcomes by: providing early intervention and care, including systematic screening for health and mental health, providing education, training and health promotion, including inside the classroom, and building the capacity of students and their families to take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.
The clinic is Australian General Practice Accreditation Limited accredited. In 2020, Ngak Min extended its services to Cape York Girl Academy students and Bama Services employees. It focuses on whole-of-life, seamless and integrated care across all sectors.
Our Location
Ngak Min is located at Djarragun College, the leading P-12 specialist boarding school for First Nations people in Australia.
Improving access
With only 43% of Indigenous people accessing specialist services, Ngak Min is designed to promote health seeking behaviour. Our culturally safe, trauma-informed case-management framework integrates into all social contexts including our schools, homes and workplaces.
Family-centred Approach
The Ngak Min model is informed by the Team Around the Family approach. Through staff and parenting training and curriculum integration, we are building the capability of staff, caregivers, young people and children to promote healthy development and reduce the burden of disease.
It’s important to remember the deep impact of constant exposure to trauma on mental health which accounts for the 19% of the Indigenous disease burden. This is what sets the Ngak Min Health model apart – its family-centred ecological approach to these intergenerational challenges.
Our Ngak Min model also considers the complex nexus between economic disadvantage, child adversity, health and violence.
The Ngak Min Family Wellbeing Program provides:
- Trauma informed and evidence informed parenting interventions for families in crisis
- Financial literacy and counselling to reduce financial stress and facilitate access to support services
- Health and mental health services to support wellbeing, education and employment
- Early intervention, where Allied health teams provide classroom-based programs to build teacher capacity and address developmental and behavioural concerns.
Indigenous Health Specialist
Ngak Min health supports Indigenous children and staff across the Cape York Partnership collective of schools, and workplaces.
We are also a one-stop health centre for Indigenous families in the local community. We eliminate the multiple and complex referral pathways which are known to hinder access by Indigenous people.
