Pat Dudgeon

Biography

Professor Pat Dudgeon AM, is from the Bardi people of the Kimberley, is Australia’s first Aboriginal psychologist, and an exceptional leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing. She is currently the Director of the Centre of Best Practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention and Transforming Indigenous Mental Health and Wellbeing at the University of Western Australia.

Her groundbreaking work has reshaped psychology in Australia and worldwide, creating tangible system change and empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. She led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Suicide Prevention Evaluation Project (ATSISPEP) and the Australian Indigenous Psychology Education Project (AIPEP). Her ‘Working Together’ textbook is affectionately known as ‘the Bible’. She was also the inaugural chair of the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association and a founding board member of Gayaa Dhuwi (Proud Spirit) Australia.