A review by georgiasbookescapes
Jilya: How one Indigenous woman from the remote Pilbara transformed psychology by Tracy Westerman

dark emotional hopeful informative medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir part educational non-fiction, Dr Tracy Westerman is a Nyamal woman, the first ever Aboriginal clinical psychologist and the founder and director of Jilya which is a program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples training as psychologists. I read this on Kaurna Country. This book is incredible and should be a must read for all so called Australians. Westerman doesn’t just share how she became the first ever Aboriginal clinical psychologist or how she has been developing Aboriginal culturally safe specific mental health assessments (that the government STILL does not make us use and by us I mean mental health professionals such as myself) but the impact true culturally appropriate support has and how through her skills and the skills of Aboriginal communities together are single handedly changing the rates of youth suicide in rural Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. If you need a new hero - look no further. If you want to see what grassroots work does - look no further.