Improving public health accessibility and equity through enhanced understanding of the neurobiology of trauma - Masterclass
1
Indigenous Health Equity Unit, Onemda: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Popul. Med. 2026;8(Supplement Supplement 1):
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Indigenous populations experience significant health and wellbeing disparities, stemming from violence and intergenerational trauma associated with colonisation. People affected by trauma can find health services unsafe, perpetuating access barriers and cycles of health inequity. Clinicians and public health practitioners play critical roles in improving health equity, however many lack confidence and feel unequipped to deliver healthcare that is culturally-safe and trauma-informed. Most receive no education in Indigenous knowledges or history, or in trauma-informed approaches, and do not understand the impact of intergenerational trauma. Training in trauma-informed practice usually explains how trauma presents and can be managed, yet deeper neurobiological explanation of the mechanisms behind why and how healthcare triggers trauma is often missing. We’ve delivered our co-designed one-day face-to-face culturally-safe and trauma-informed training to over 1200 healthcare providers who’ve shown significant and sustained improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Attendees consistently cite the neurobiological explanation of why and how trauma-informed practice works as the most valuable module. We have applied this knowledge to development of culturally-safe and trauma informed frameworks for public health emergencies and health promotion to improve accessibility and equity of public health programs.
METHODS:
This masterclass will explore: • How intergenerational trauma and colonisation shape trauma responses, health behaviours and engagement with healthcare and public health messaging. • The long-term neurobiological impacts of trauma on physical and behavioural responses to stress, brain structure and function, and epigenetics. • How our trauma-informed public health emergency and health promotion frameworks can be applied to improve equity in public health.
RESULTS:
Attendees will reframe deficit-based perspectives of trauma-related health behaviour to structural understanding, gaining confidence and motivation to integrate culturally-safe and trauma-informed care into public health practice.
CONCLUSIONS:
Attendees will leave with an enhanced ability to provide more accessible, equitable public health messaging, health promotion programs and clinical care.
Indigenous populations experience significant health and wellbeing disparities, stemming from violence and intergenerational trauma associated with colonisation. People affected by trauma can find health services unsafe, perpetuating access barriers and cycles of health inequity. Clinicians and public health practitioners play critical roles in improving health equity, however many lack confidence and feel unequipped to deliver healthcare that is culturally-safe and trauma-informed. Most receive no education in Indigenous knowledges or history, or in trauma-informed approaches, and do not understand the impact of intergenerational trauma. Training in trauma-informed practice usually explains how trauma presents and can be managed, yet deeper neurobiological explanation of the mechanisms behind why and how healthcare triggers trauma is often missing. We’ve delivered our co-designed one-day face-to-face culturally-safe and trauma-informed training to over 1200 healthcare providers who’ve shown significant and sustained improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Attendees consistently cite the neurobiological explanation of why and how trauma-informed practice works as the most valuable module. We have applied this knowledge to development of culturally-safe and trauma informed frameworks for public health emergencies and health promotion to improve accessibility and equity of public health programs.
METHODS:
This masterclass will explore: • How intergenerational trauma and colonisation shape trauma responses, health behaviours and engagement with healthcare and public health messaging. • The long-term neurobiological impacts of trauma on physical and behavioural responses to stress, brain structure and function, and epigenetics. • How our trauma-informed public health emergency and health promotion frameworks can be applied to improve equity in public health.
RESULTS:
Attendees will reframe deficit-based perspectives of trauma-related health behaviour to structural understanding, gaining confidence and motivation to integrate culturally-safe and trauma-informed care into public health practice.
CONCLUSIONS:
Attendees will leave with an enhanced ability to provide more accessible, equitable public health messaging, health promotion programs and clinical care.
| eISSN: | 2654-1459 |
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