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Although many of these connections have been disrupted by colonisation, Indigenous relational health systems have adapted in response and numerous relational self-care interventions based on the social and emotional wellbeing model of health have been implemented across Australia. For example, since 2012 one of us (PD) has directed a nationwide Indigenous relational self-care intervention called the National Empowerment Project.4 7 Responding to high levels of psychological distress and suicide in Indigenous communities, the National Empowerment Project has provided communities with culturally safe tools that support social and emotional wellbeing. These relational self-care tools include cultural reclamation activities, collective truth telling about colonisation, goal setting, conflict resolution, critical thinking, connecting with Elders, and strengthening family and community relationships. Independent evaluations and qualitative evaluations of this intervention have consistently found that participants report improved social and emotional wellbeing, strengthened resilience, and decreased psychological distress.8 9 10

thinking, connecting with Elders, and strengthening family and community relationships. Independent evaluations and qualitative evaluations of this intervention have consistently found that participants report improved social and emotional wellbeing, strengthened resilience, and decreased psychological distress.8 9 10 By transforming people’s collective lived experience of colonisation into healing strategies, the National Empowerment Project has supported individuals, families, and communities to take agency over their health. The benefits of relational self-care include the strengthening of sustainable health practices, inter-generational healing, health and wellbeing literacy, and increased self-determination over individual and collective health.10 Relational self-care also supports Indigenous human rights by advancing decolonisation and supporting communities in their search for truth and empowerment, while nurturing the knowledge of collective resilience and a desire for an equitable future.

increased self-determination over individual and collective health.10 Relational self-care also supports Indigenous human rights by advancing decolonisation and supporting communities in their search for truth and empowerment, while nurturing the knowledge of collective resilience and a desire for an equitable future. It is becoming increasingly clear to western health systems that all life is connected and that planetary and human health are linked, but this idea has been the foundation of Indigenous health systems for millennia. As the public health importance of collective self-care and caring for the environment become increasingly urgent, we should look to insights from the world’s oldest and most resilient health systems. Indigenous relational self-care is a collective healing practice that can move us beyond historically recent, individualistic biomedical models of self-care, allowing us to embrace a more culturally mature understanding of holistic health.