Two First Nations people from Mount Isa have completed their certification to become Australia's first Indigenous sleep coaches.
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Karen Chong and Jamie Dunne are working as project officers for Lets Yarn About Sleep program to promote sleep health in First Nations communities.
The Lets Yarn About Sleep program was rolled out in Mount Isa in 2020 led by Dr Yaqoot Fatima (Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Social Science Research, The University of Queensland) and is funded by a Medical Research Future Fund-Indigenous Health Grant.
Dr Yaqoot said sleep and health are closely linked and problems with the quality, timing and amount of sleep affects physical and mental health.
"There is strong evidence confirming the protective role of sleep in reducing the risk and severity of poor health outcomes," Dr Yaqoot said.
"Yet, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adolescents, who experience a disproportionately high rate of health issues, the potential of sleep in improving health and wellbeing outcomes remains untapped".
She said this could be attributed to lack of sleep health programs aligned with First Nations peoples' health and wellbeing and workforce and cultural capability issues affecting culturally appropriate care.
Karen Chong and Jamie Dunn are First Nations people from Mount Isa who have completed their certification from the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland to become Australia's first Indigenous Sleep Coaches.
Ms Chong said it was important to know the science behind sleep, so sleep training is very helpful.
Mr Dunne said their training allowed them to put on, configure, and extract sleep data from their actigraphy watches.
"Actigraphy is important to determine the sleep habits of youth from Mount Isa," he said.
"Now, what's left to do is do the same thing for 120 adolescents."
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LYAS program cultural mentor Roslyn Von Senden reminded the sleep coaches and facilitators that sleep is important for Aboriginal people because of Dreamtime.
"Aboriginal people, are very creative. They use art to express knowledge. There is singing and dancing," she said.
"All these elements, along with the science of sleep, must come together."
The program is co-designed with community members and service providers and its vision is to provide holistic, inclusive and context-responsive solutions to improve First Nations adolescents' understanding of sleep and empower them to embrace sleep health.
The LYAS program involves collaborators from La Trobe University, University of Western Australia, Flinders University, Central Queensland University, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, James Cook University and Young People Ahead Mount Isa.
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