In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, a quiet but significant shift is underway in how a society listens to its youngest and most vulnerable members. The nation's first eating disorder screening tool designed specifically for Aboriginal youth — built not by outside experts alone, but in genuine partnership with community — has been launched, recognizing that care which does not speak a person's cultural language cannot truly reach them. It is a reminder that the architecture of healing must be constructed from within, not imposed from without, and that equity in health begins with the
Australia's First Culturally Safe Eating Disorder Tool Launches in Kimberley
Care closer to home and on Country
Mark
Why does a screening tool need to be culturally specific? Isn't an eating disorder an eating disorder?
Mimi
Eating disorders do have universal clinical features, but how they show up, what triggers them, and how people talk about them can be deeply shaped by culture. A tool designed without that understanding might miss signs or ask questions that don't land with Aboriginal young people. It's about meeting people where they are.
Luke
That makes sense in principle, but I want to know: what specifically is different in this tool compared to existing ones? The source doesn't actually describe what makes it culturally grounded—just that it was developed with community input.
Mimi
That's a fair gap. The source confirms the process was collaborative, but you're right that we don't see the actual content changes. That would be important to understand.
Mark
And the workforce piece—hiring the first Aboriginal Health Coordinator in this role. Does that mean there were no Aboriginal people working in eating disorders support before?
Mimi
It appears so, at least not in a dedicated coordinator role. That's significant because it means Aboriginal young people seeking help would have been working with clinicians who might not share their cultural background or lived experience.
Luke
But we should be careful: the source says this is the first in a "dedicated eating disorders support role." There may have been Aboriginal health workers in mental health more broadly. The specificity matters.
Mark
The pilot reaches 40 young people by June 2027. Is that a small number or reasonable for a pilot?
Mimi
For a pilot in a region like the Kimberley, 40 is a meaningful cohort—large enough to generate real data, small enough to be manageable while you're testing and refining. But it's also a reminder that this is early stage.
Luke
And we won't know if it actually works until the evaluation is done. The source doesn't tell us what success looks like—is it just identification, or are they measuring whether young people actually engage with treatment and improve?
Mimi
The evaluation will determine that. For now, the program is betting that culturally safe early identification will lead to better outcomes, but that's still a hypothesis being tested.
Il Polso
- Eating disorders among Aboriginal youth in the Kimberley have long gone undetected, in part because existing clinical tools were built for different cultural contexts and failed to create the conditions of trust necessary for honest disclosure.
- The absence of culturally safe screening has meant young people aged 12 to 24 either slipped through the system entirely or were forced to navigate services that felt foreign and alienating — a compounding harm on top of an already serious condition.
- The new tool, 'Feelings about my body and eating,' was co-designed with Aboriginal health professionals, youth workers, and cultural advisors, embedding community knowledge into every layer of its structure rather than retrofitting cultural sensitivity as an afterthought.
- By integrating the screening into existing services — including the Wunan Health & Well-Being Centre and Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service — the program removes the burden of travel and unfamiliarity, bringing identification and referral closer to home and Country.
- The appointment of the first Aboriginal Health Coordinator dedicated to eating disorders marks a structural commitment, not just a programmatic one, signaling that this work is meant to endure beyond a single pilot.
- With Telethon funding carrying the pilot through to June 2027 and a formal evaluation determining its future reach, the program is positioned as a proof of concept for what culturally grounded care can look like at scale across Western Australia.
In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, a quiet but significant shift is underway in how a society listens to its youngest and most vulnerable members. The nation's first eating disorder screening tool designed specifically for Aboriginal youth — built not by outside experts alone, but in genuine partnership with community — has been launched, recognizing that care which does not speak a person's cultural language cannot truly reach them. It is a reminder that the architecture of healing must be constructed from within, not imposed from without, and that equity in health begins with the humility to ask communities what they actually need.
Western Australia has launched the country's first eating disorder screening tool built specifically for Aboriginal young people, embedding it into community health services across the Kimberley. Developed by WA Country Health Service in close collaboration with Aboriginal health professionals, youth workers, clinicians, and cultural advisors, the tool — called 'Feelings about my body and eating' — targets youth aged 12 to 24 and represents a deliberate departure from generic clinical frameworks that can miss cultural context or erode the trust necessary for young people to seek help.
The tool's design reflects a core insight: eating disorders in Aboriginal communities can present differently, and early identification depends on young people feeling safe enough to engage honestly with health services. Rather than adapting an existing instrument, the team built something new from the ground up through sustained community consultation, ensuring the screening process itself aligns with the values and lived realities of those it serves.
Rollout is happening through infrastructure already woven into community life — Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service clinics alongside partners including the Wunan Health & Well-Being Centre and Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service. This approach reduces the barriers of distance and unfamiliarity that have historically kept Aboriginal youth from accessing care. Accompanying the launch is the appointment of the first Aboriginal Health Coordinator dedicated to eating disorders support, a milestone that signals institutional commitment to culturally grounded care as an ongoing practice rather than a one-off initiative.
The pilot, funded by a Telethon grant, aims to reach at least 40 young people before June 2027, when a formal evaluation will assess both early identification rates and whether the tool meaningfully improves engagement and health outcomes. Those results will shape how — and how widely — the program is extended across Western Australia, with the initiative already aligned to the state's Eating Disorders Framework 2025-2030 and its broader commitments to health equity and Aboriginal wellbeing.
Western Australia has launched the nation's first eating disorder screening tool designed specifically for Aboriginal young people, embedding it directly into community health services across the Kimberley. The tool, called Feelings about my body and eating, targets youth aged 12 to 24 and was developed by WA Country Health Service in close partnership with Aboriginal health professionals, youth workers, clinicians, and cultural advisors who shaped every aspect of its design.
The screening instrument represents a deliberate shift in how eating disorders are identified and addressed in Aboriginal communities. Rather than applying generic clinical frameworks that may miss cultural context or alienate young people, the tool was built through extensive community consultation to reflect the specific needs and values of the young people it aims to serve. This approach recognizes that eating disorders in Aboriginal populations can present differently and that trust in health services depends on cultural safety—the assurance that care providers understand and respect cultural identity.
The rollout is happening through existing healthcare infrastructure: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service clinics run by WA Country Health Service, alongside community-based partners including Wunan Health & Well-Being Centre and Ord Valley Aboriginal Health Service. By anchoring the screening tool in services already embedded in communities, the program removes barriers to access. Young people can be identified and referred for care closer to home and on Country, rather than requiring travel to distant facilities or navigating unfamiliar systems.
A significant workforce development milestone accompanies the launch: the appointment of the first Aboriginal Health Coordinator dedicated specifically to eating disorders support. This position signals institutional commitment to sustained, culturally grounded care and creates a pathway for Aboriginal professionals to lead in this space.
The pilot phase, funded by a Telethon grant, is designed to reach at least 40 young people and will run until June 2027. During this period, the program will be formally evaluated to assess its effectiveness and determine how it might be scaled or adapted for broader implementation across Western Australia. The evaluation will measure not only whether young people are identified earlier but whether the tool actually improves their engagement with care and health outcomes.
The initiative aligns with the Western Australian Eating Disorders Framework 2025-2030 and reflects broader government priorities around health equity and supporting Aboriginal wellbeing. Mental Health Minister Meredith Hammat framed the work as positioning the state at the forefront of culturally safe care, while Kimberley MLA Divina D'Anna emphasized that early intervention tools like this one ensure young people receive healthcare when they need it. The underlying premise is straightforward: eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that respond better to early identification, and that identification is more likely to happen when the screening process itself feels safe and culturally appropriate to the young people being screened.
Citazioni salienti
By embedding the screening tool in Aboriginal and community health services, we're able to give more young people access to this care closer to home and on Country.— Mental Health Minister Meredith Hammat
Culturally safe early interventions like this screening tool will ensure more of our young people get the healthcare they need, when they need it.— Kimberley MLA Divina D'Anna
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