Sarah stared at her phone screen, scrolling through another wave of distressing news while sitting in her Melbourne apartment. Despite having access to every modern convenience, therapy apps, and wellness content, she felt disconnected and overwhelmed. Sound familiar? She’s not alone—recent data shows that 21.5% of Australians experienced a mental disorder in the past 12 months, with young people aged 16-24 facing even starker numbers at 38.8%.
Yet thousands of kilometres away, researchers studying traditional Indigenous communities are uncovering something remarkable: cultures that have maintained strong connections to their traditional practices, land, and community show significantly lower rates of mental health challenges and higher resilience in the face of adversity.
What if the solutions we’re desperately seeking aren’t found in the latest wellness trends or pharmaceutical innovations, but in wisdom that’s been tested over tens of thousands of years? What if true cultural wellness—the deep integration of identity, community, spirituality, and connection to place—holds keys to mental wellbeing that our modern world has forgotten?
This isn’t about appropriating Indigenous practices or abandoning modern mental health care. It’s about understanding universal principles of human flourishing that traditional cultures have always known, and learning how to weave them respectfully into our contemporary lives.
The Hidden Crisis: Why Our Current Approach Isn’t Enough
Before we explore solutions, let’s be honest about where we are. Australia’s mental health statistics paint a sobering picture that extends far beyond individual struggles to reveal systemic gaps in how we understand and support wellbeing.
The 2020-2022 National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing revealed that anxiety disorders affect 17.2% of Australians aged 16-85 years, making it the most common mental health challenge. But here’s what’s particularly striking: among young people aged 16-24, the rates climb to alarming heights, with more than one in three experiencing a mental disorder in any given year.
These aren’t just numbers—they represent millions of Australians feeling disconnected, overwhelmed, and struggling to find meaning and resilience in an increasingly complex world. Despite unprecedented access to mental health resources, therapy options, and wellness information, we’re seeing mental health challenges escalate rather than improve.
But here’s where it gets interesting: research is consistently showing that people with strong cultural connections—to their heritage, community, spiritual practices, and sense of place—demonstrate remarkably better mental health outcomes and greater resilience when facing adversity.
A groundbreaking study examining Indigenous communities in Canada found that suicide rates were distinctly lower for communities with strong continuity of cultural practices compared to those where there had been cultural dislocation. Similar patterns emerge in research from New Zealand, where the “Māori renaissance”—a period of cultural revitalisation—corresponded with significant health improvements.
This suggests something profound: cultural wellness isn’t just a nice-to-have addition to mental health care—it might be fundamental to human thriving in ways our current approaches are missing.
Understanding Cultural Wellness: Beyond Heritage Tourism
Most of us think of culture in terms of festivals, food, and traditions—the visible expressions we celebrate during cultural events. But cultural wellness goes much deeper. It’s about the fundamental ways that identity, community, spirituality, and connection to place create a framework for understanding who we are and how we fit into the world.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have long understood this through their concept of Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB)—a holistic framework that recognises health as encompassing physical, mental, spiritual, and cultural dimensions. Unlike Western models that often treat mental health as separate from other aspects of life, SEWB understands that everything is interconnected.
Cultural wellness recognises several key elements:
Identity and Belonging: Knowing who you are, where you come from, and how you fit into something larger than yourself. This isn’t just about ethnicity—it’s about understanding your place in the human story and feeling genuinely seen and valued by a community.
Connection to Place: Traditional cultures understand that humans aren’t separate from their environment—we’re part of it. This connection to Country, land, or place provides grounding, identity, and spiritual nourishment that can’t be replicated through virtual experiences alone.
Intergenerational Wisdom: Cultural wellness involves maintaining connections across generations, learning from elders, and understanding yourself as part of a continuous story rather than an isolated individual.
Spiritual Framework: This doesn’t necessarily mean religion—it’s about having a worldview that provides meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than immediate material concerns.
Community Reciprocity: Traditional cultures emphasise mutual support, shared responsibility, and the understanding that individual wellbeing is inseparable from community health.
Research consistently shows that people who have strong connections to these elements demonstrate greater resilience, lower rates of depression and anxiety, and better overall life satisfaction. They cope better with trauma, recover faster from setbacks, and maintain hope even in difficult circumstances.
The Science Behind Ancient Wisdom
You might be thinking, “This sounds lovely, but where’s the evidence?” Fair question. Let’s look at what rigorous scientific research tells us about the mental health impacts of cultural practices and connections.
Land-Based Healing Programs have shown measurable improvements in mental health outcomes. A recent study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples found that land-based healing and wellness programs which centre cultural practices on Country showed significant improvements in mental health outcomes. Participants reported reduced anxiety and depression, increased sense of identity, and greater overall life satisfaction.
Cultural Identity as Protection: Research has consistently demonstrated that cultural connectedness acts as a protective factor against mental health challenges. A comprehensive review found positive associations between cultural identity and wellbeing when measured against factors like traditional practices, spirituality, and community connection.
Intergenerational Trauma and Cultural Healing: Studies of Indigenous communities worldwide show that reconnection with traditional practices can help heal intergenerational trauma. The research reveals that as people strengthen their cultural identity, they develop greater resilience against the ongoing impacts of historical trauma.
Arts and Creative Expression: Traditional cultural practices involving arts, crafts, music, dance, and storytelling have been found to build resilience and recovery from trauma. One study noted that these practices “result in resilience in the face of racism and generational trauma as a result of colonisation.”
Community Connection and Suicide Prevention: Perhaps most powerfully, research consistently shows that Indigenous communities with strong cultural continuity have significantly lower suicide rates. A landmark Canadian study found that cultural continuity factors such as self-government, land claims, education services, health services, cultural facilities, and police and fire services were all associated with dramatically lower youth suicide rates.
What’s remarkable is that these benefits aren’t limited to Indigenous communities. Research with multicultural populations in Australia shows similar patterns: people who maintain strong connections to their cultural heritage, regardless of background, demonstrate better mental health outcomes and greater resilience.
Core Elements of Traditional Wellness Practices
So what exactly are these traditional practices that research shows can build such powerful resilience? While specific practices vary enormously across cultures, several universal elements appear consistently in traditional wellness approaches worldwide.
Connection to Country and Place
Traditional cultures understand that land is not just a resource—it’s a relationship. Aboriginal Australians speak of Country as encompassing the physical environment, spiritual significance, and identity all in one. This isn’t romanticising—it’s recognising that humans evolved in intimate relationship with specific places, and that disconnection from place can create a form of spiritual homelessness.
Modern research on “place attachment” confirms what traditional cultures have always known: people with strong connections to specific places show greater psychological wellbeing, stronger sense of identity, and better stress management. This connection can be to childhood landscapes, current neighbourhoods, or places of cultural significance.
Cultural Practices and Traditions
Traditional wellness involves active participation in cultural practices that connect people to their heritage and community. This might include arts and crafts, music and dance, storytelling, ceremonial practices, or traditional skills and knowledge.
Research shows that participation in these activities provides multiple psychological benefits: they create flow states that reduce anxiety, build mastery and confidence, connect people to historical continuity, and provide opportunities for intergenerational learning and community bonding.
Spirituality and Meaning-Making
Traditional cultures typically embed individual lives within larger spiritual frameworks that provide meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than immediate concerns. This doesn’t require specific religious beliefs—it’s about having a worldview that helps make sense of suffering, celebrates joy, and provides hope for the future.
Studies consistently show that people with strong spiritual frameworks—whether religious or secular—have better mental health outcomes, greater resilience in facing adversity, and lower rates of depression and anxiety.
Community and Kinship
Traditional wellness is inherently communal. Individual wellbeing is understood as inseparable from community health, and people have clearly defined roles and responsibilities within their community networks.
Modern research on social connection confirms that strong community ties are among the most powerful predictors of mental health and longevity. People with robust social networks live longer, recover faster from illness, and maintain better mental health throughout their lives.
Practical Applications: Building Cultural Wellness in Modern Life
The question becomes: how do we respectfully and authentically apply these insights in our contemporary context? How do we build cultural wellness without appropriating specific Indigenous practices or pretending to be something we’re not?
The key is understanding that while specific practices vary across cultures, the underlying human needs for identity, community, place, and meaning are universal. Here are practical ways to begin building cultural wellness in your own life:
Explore Your Own Cultural Heritage
Start with your own story. Most of us have lost touch with our cultural roots through migration, urbanisation, or generational disconnection. Begin exploring your family history, traditional practices from your heritage, or cultural expressions from your background.
This doesn’t mean you need to become an expert in genealogy or adopt practices that feel foreign. It might be as simple as learning traditional recipes from your grandmother, understanding the history of your family’s migration, or exploring art forms from your cultural background.
Connect with your community. Seek out cultural groups, community organisations, or local gatherings that celebrate your heritage. Many Australian cities have vibrant multicultural communities where you can connect with others who share your background.
Develop Connection to Place
Choose a specific place to build relationship with. This might be a local park, beach, garden, or even your own backyard. Spend regular time there, learning about its history, observing seasonal changes, and developing a sense of belonging to that specific place.
Learn about the traditional custodians of your area. Understand the Indigenous history of the land where you live, work, and play. This isn’t about guilt—it’s about understanding the deeper story of place and developing more respectful and connected relationship with the land.
Practice nature-based mindfulness. Spend time outdoors regularly, not just for exercise but for connection and restoration. Research shows that time in nature reduces stress hormones, improves mood, and enhances overall wellbeing.
Build Intergenerational Connections
Seek out wisdom holders. Whether through family connections, community organisations, or formal mentoring programs, develop relationships with people who can share knowledge, experience, and perspective across generational lines.
Share your own knowledge. Look for opportunities to pass on skills, knowledge, or experience to younger people. Teaching and mentoring create meaning and purpose while building community connections.
Engage in Creative and Spiritual Practices
Explore traditional art forms. Whether it’s music, visual arts, crafts, storytelling, or dance, engage with creative practices that connect you to cultural traditions. These don’t have to be specifically from your heritage—they can be forms that resonate with you and provide meaning and connection.
Develop regular spiritual or reflective practices. This might be meditation, prayer, journaling, or simply regular time for contemplation and meaning-making. The key is consistency and intentionality in creating space for inner reflection and connection to larger purposes.
Foster Community Reciprocity
Get involved in mutual support. Look for opportunities to both give and receive support within your community. This might be through volunteering, neighbourhood groups, community gardens, or cultural organisations.
Practice cultural sharing. Share your cultural knowledge, skills, or traditions with others while remaining open to learning from their backgrounds and experiences.
Building Bridges: Integration, Not Replacement
It’s crucial to understand that cultural wellness isn’t about replacing conventional mental health treatment—it’s about creating a more complete approach that addresses the full spectrum of human needs. When someone is experiencing clinical depression or anxiety, they need professional support. But they also need identity, community, meaning, and connection.
The most exciting developments in mental health care involve integration of traditional and contemporary approaches. Culturally safe healthcare recognises that effective treatment must honour people’s cultural identity and worldview rather than asking them to disconnect from their heritage to access care.
Progressive healthcare services are beginning to employ cultural healers and elders alongside conventional practitioners, creating land-based healing programs, and incorporating traditional practices into treatment protocols. These integrated approaches show particularly promising results with Indigenous peoples, but the principles apply across cultural backgrounds.
Policy implications are significant too. Communities that invest in cultural facilities, language programs, traditional arts support, and intergenerational gathering spaces see measurable improvements in community mental health and social cohesion.
This suggests that cultural wellness isn’t just an individual practice—it’s a community development strategy that can build collective resilience and reduce mental health challenges at the population level.
The Ripple Effects: Community and Collective Healing
Here’s what’s particularly powerful about cultural wellness approaches: they create positive ripple effects that extend far beyond individual benefits. When people develop stronger cultural connections, they typically become more engaged community members, better mentors for young people, and more effective advocates for positive social change.
Communities with strong cultural wellness show:
- Lower rates of youth mental health challenges and suicide
- Greater social cohesion and mutual support
- More effective responses to community crises and challenges
- Stronger intergenerational relationships and knowledge transfer
- More resilient local economies and social structures
This creates what researchers call “protective communities”—social environments that actively build resilience and wellbeing rather than simply treating problems after they arise.
A New Vision for Mental Health
Imagine a different approach to mental health—one that begins with the assumption that humans need identity, community, purpose, and connection to thrive. One that sees individual struggles as often reflecting broader disconnections from culture, place, and meaning.
This doesn’t mean abandoning scientific rigour or evidence-based treatments. It means expanding our understanding of what constitutes evidence and recognising that traditional cultures offer thousands of years of experimentation in what helps humans flourish.
Cultural wellness represents a shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to asking “What happened to your connections?” From treating symptoms to building resilience. From individual treatment to community healing.
Taking the First Step
If you’re feeling the pull towards greater cultural wellness, start small and start authentically. You don’t need to completely transform your life overnight or adopt practices that feel foreign to your experience.
Begin with curiosity:
- What cultural traditions from your own background might offer meaning and connection?
- What places in your area could you develop deeper relationship with?
- What communities or groups align with your values and interests?
- What creative or spiritual practices call to you?
Remember that cultural wellness is a journey, not a destination. It’s about gradually building stronger connections to identity, community, place, and meaning in ways that feel authentic and sustainable for your life.
The research is clear: people who develop these connections show greater resilience, better mental health, and more meaningful lives. In a world that often feels increasingly fragmented and overwhelming, perhaps the path forward lies not in new innovations, but in remembering ancient wisdom about what it means to be fully human.
As Sarah discovered when she began exploring her family’s cultural traditions and developing connections to the places and communities around her, cultural wellness isn’t about having all the answers—it’s about being part of the larger human story in ways that nourish both individual thriving and collective flourishing.
The invitation is simple: begin where you are, honour what calls to you, and trust that small steps towards greater cultural connection can create profound shifts in wellbeing, resilience, and joy.
If you’re experiencing mental health challenges, please reach out for professional support. In Australia, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, or speak with your GP about mental health services in your area.
