April in the Tor­res Strait is typ­i­cal­ly the end of the Kuki (pro­nounced Cook-ee) or wet sea­son, where the winds change from strong north-west to the south-east trade winds. 

I was for­tu­nate to gain a final year nurs­ing place­ment on Thurs­day Island dur­ing this time, in con­junc­tion with La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty, James Cook Uni­ver­si­ty (who kind­ly organ­ised accom­mo­da­tion), and the Tor­res and Cape Hos­pi­tal and Health Ser­vice (TCHHS). Com­ing from region­al north Vic­to­ria, where it was already start­ing to turn cold, the new trop­i­cal cli­mate whilst fair­ly rainy was still appreciated!

I timed my arrival with the Gab Titui Cul­tur­al Centre’s 20^th Anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion, so on just the sec­ond day I saw cul­tur­al dances from islands all over the Tor­res Strait – it was a per­fect start to what would prove to be an incred­i­ble experience.

I was under­tak­ing my men­tal health and well­be­ing place­ment and quick­ly set­tled along­side the very expe­ri­enced and excep­tion­al team on Thurs­day Island.

In pre­vi­ous place­ments, I had not felt so wel­come, includ­ed, and respect­ed but I soon learnt that in the Tor­res Strait, to have such a wel­com­ing and warm spir­it was the norm.

There was a sense of like-mind­ed staff who clear­ly loved car­ing for the peo­ple of the community.

The mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary men­tal health team on Thurs­day Island works with the acute pre­sen­ta­tions of both adults and youth in cri­sis, or con­sumers in need of case man­age­ment care.

This meant I was able to spend time with both the adult and youth ser­vice, observe some acute triage, a med­ica­tion clin­ic, and prac­tise writ­ing men­tal state exam­i­na­tions. The team also per­forms out­reach ser­vices to the out­er islands via fixed wing or heli­copter, with the aim of increas­ing the avail­abil­i­ty of men­tal health ser­vices to the community.

I felt like I had won the lot­to when I was invit­ed on one of these out­reach trips, this time to Mer (Mur­ray) and Erub (Darn­ley) Islands to observe how out­reach oper­at­ed and how the ser­vices were provided.

I was impressed with how Queens­land Health oper­at­ed remote health in regard to tele­health, video calls, liais­ing with oth­er HHSs and fly-in-fly-out patient trans­fers. From a stu­dent per­spec­tive, this all looked smooth and co-ordi­nat­ed when in fact I’m sure it required a lot of plan­ning and align­ment of ser­vices involved.

Already pas­sion­ate about First Nations health, I learnt first-hand that the sub­ject of men­tal health in the Tor­res Strait is still a chal­leng­ing one, tan­gled up by old stereo­types and stig­ma. In the aim of negat­ing this, I tried to learn as much as I could about local ways and knowl­edge to reduce cul­tur­al barriers.

I real­ly val­ued the oppor­tu­ni­ty to increase my skills and knowl­edge in this area and I’m cer­tain this place­ment will stand me in great stead to my goals of work­ing in this spe­cial­ty in the future.

Big ESSO (a Tor­res Strait expres­sion that means ​‘biggest thank you’) to the Thurs­day Island Men­tal Health and Oth­er Drugs Team, the Social and Emo­tion­al Well­be­ing Team, my amaz­ing accom­mo­da­tion host Sue, and the La Trobe Uni­ver­si­ty place­ments team who were open to try­ing this remote place­ment option.