Grants to promote wellbeing of young Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander males in NT

Congratulations to researchers based at the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing – Northern Territory, led by Professor James Smith, on recently being awarded two grants:

• A Menzies School of Health Internal Small Research Grant to commence work relating to the adaptation of an online mental health education and support intervention for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males. This is a collaborative project with the University of Michigan, the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, and other Australian universities. This research has been catalysed by the collaborations James formed with Professor Derek Griffith at Vanderbilt University and Professor Daphne Watkins at the University of Michigan during his Fulbright Senior Scholarship program (see overview here). Other investigators involved in this project are Himanshu Gupta (Inaugural FCMHW NT Research Fellow), Anthony Merlino (Research Assistant), and Jahdai Vigona (Indigenous Trainee), all of whom are based at the Menzies School of Health Research.

• An Australian Government Department of Health grant of $103,940 for the Confident and Health Aboriginal Males Program (CHAMP): The development and piloting of a strengths-based health promotion program for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Males in the Northern Territory”. The Investigators are Prof James Smith, Mr Anthony Merlino, Dr Himanshu Gupta, and Dr Daile Rung and the project will be undertaken in collaboration with the Darwin Indigenous Men's Service, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation, Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet, and Edith Cowan University.

Overview of Fulbright Senior Scholar program: Professor James Smith

Professor James Smith is the inaugural Director of the Freemasons Centre for Male Health and Wellbeing – Northern Territory (FCMHW-NT) based at Menzies School of Health Research.

In 2019, Professor Smith was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Senior Scholarship from the Fulbright Commission to undertake a program of learning and to develop future collaborations in the United States around health promotion strategies aimed at reducing health inequities among young men of colour. 

A focus of the FCMHW-NT Division program is Indigenous health and wellbeing, migrant health and wellbeing, and equity and health. Given the alignment of research interests, the Fulbright program was an important opportunity for Professor Smith to develop collaborative health promotion and health policy program opportunities. 

Professor Smith was based in the US for the program in early-mid 2020. This included 2 ½ weeks with Professor Derek Griffith (pictured left above) at the Centre for Research on Men’s Health at Vanderbilt University and 3 ½ months with Professor Daphne Watkins (pictured centre) at the Curtis Center for Health Equity Research and Training within the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan.  

During this time, Professor Smith interviewed 40 men’s health scholars, practitioners and policy-makers from across the US with an explicit interest in the health of boys and young men. He also delivered a range of guest lectures and presentations, and while there co-authored papers with Professors Griffith and Watkins relating to equity and men’s health, including

Reducing health inequities facing boys and young men of colour in the United States

and

Strengthening Policy Commitments to Equity and Men’s Health