Thought-provoking lecture from WA’s 2021 Australian of the Year

2021 West Australian of the Year and Embrace Co-Director Professor Helen Milroy, before her lecture at Government House on the mental health impacts of childhood trauma

Many people do not recognise how widespread childhood trauma is and what an enormous impact it can have on the life of the child experiencing it. In Australia, it is estimated that approximately 2.5 million adults (~13%) experienced physical or sexual abuse as a child, and one in three people experience maltreatment as a child. Further, worldwide estimates show that up to 48% of adults experienced some sort of traumatic event during their childhood or adolescence.

Childhood trauma can result from childhood maltreatment, such as physical, emotional or sexual abuse or neglect, or other highly traumatic events (e.g. an accident or natural disaster) that may occur during childhood. Survivors of trauma are at increased risk of a range of physical and mental illnesses throughout their life and may also pass this trauma onto their own children (known as intergenerational trauma). 

A major gap in tackling the mental health crisis in WA is the inability to effectively treat children and adolescents with a history of trauma within the current system. Western Australia has never had a comprehensive research program focused on identifying and effectively treating the impact of trauma in our children and young people. With your help, we can change this.

Embrace @ Telethon Kids Institute’s very own Professor Helen Milroy recently spoke to Telethon Kids supporters and stakeholders at our annual Governor’s Lecture at Government House, raising awareness around this important and often misunderstood issue. 

Professor Milroy, who was Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and is a Commissioner with the National Mental Health Commission and the Stan Perron Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Child and Adolescent Health Service (Perth Children’s Hospital) and University of Western Australia has worked tirelessly at both a state and national level to improve health and mental health outcomes for young people in Australia, with a particular focus on recovery from grief and trauma.

Together with Co-director, Associate Professor Ashleigh Lin and the rest of the Embrace team, Helen is contributing to a world-class research program on childhood trauma, which will understand how trauma affects the developing brain, how childhood trauma influences the way children grow into adults, and what we can do to ensure a better outcome for survivors. 

If you missed this event and would like to view a recording of Professor Milroy’s lecture, you can watch it here:

With your help, we can do more to create mentally healthy futures for all children. If you would like to support Embrace and Professor Milroy’s work in childhood trauma, you can donate here.