News Story

The Ageing Spirit

Who takes care of our spiritual needs as we grow older? In an interview with ABC Radio National's Rachael Kohn, Dennis McDermott reveals the challenges for indigenous Australians as they face old age with fragmented identities and Elizabeth MacKinlay, Director of the Centre for Ageing & Pastoral Studies in Canberra, reflects on spiritual care for the aged.

ABC Radio National View the transcript, listen online or download the audio

Dennis McDermott, is a Conjoint Senior Lecturer with the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit in the School of Public Health and Community Medicine. He is a Koori psychologist, academic and poet. Although he grew up on Gamilaroi land, Tamworth, NSW, his mother's mob is from inner Sydney, Gadigal country, and his father's from Donegal. As a registered psychologist of over twenty-five years experience, Dennis has worked in such diverse fields as alcohol and drug education and counselling, private therapeutic practice, community health and men's health research. He has trained Aboriginal foster carers, supervised counsellors to the "stolen generations" and worked with families dealing with a death in custody. His teaching and research interests encompass maternal and infant health, violence and injury prevention / safety promotion, men's and boys' health, chronic and complex disease management and prevention, Indigenous social, spiritual and emotional well-being, Indigenous health pedagogy, and the nexus of culture and context in service delivery. In 2005, he was made an Honorary Fellow - He Pûkenga Taiea of Te Mata o te Tau - the Academy for Maori Research and Scholarship.

(above extract taken from the ABC Radio National website)

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