Jilya
How One Indigenous Woman from the Remote Pilbara Transformed Psychology
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Jilya
Buy Now for $26.99
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Narrated by:
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Tracy Westerman AM
About this listen
From humble beginnings in the remote Pilbara, psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman has redefined what's possible at every turn.
Despite neither of her parents progressing past primary school, and never having met a psychologist before attending university, Westerman was the first Aboriginal person in Australia to complete a PhD in Clinical Psychology, rising to become one of the country's foremost psychologists. Against significant odds, she commenced her own private business to challenge the way the mental health profession responds to cultural difference, and recently established a charitable foundation and scholarship program to mentor Indigenous people from our highest-risk communities to become psychologists.
In this ground-breaking memoir, Westerman draws on client stories of trauma, heartbreak, hope and connection from her years of practice, offering a no-holds-barred reflection on how the monocultural, one-size-fits-all approach to psychology is failing Aboriginal people and how she's healing those wounds.
Jilya is a story of drive and determination, of what it takes to create change when the odds are stacked against you. Above all, it is a story of one woman's love for her people.
2025, NSW Premier's Literary Awards Indigenous Writers Prize, Winner
2025, NSW Premier's Literary Awards UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing, Winner
©2025 Tracy Westerman (P)2025 Bolinda PublishingCritic Reviews
Inspiring truth telling of an Aboriginal woman who achieved her dream with hard work and determination.
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However, for me it was soul destroying to go out into the world of government social work, only to learn time and again that I had been employed as an agent of social control. Siloed work with the most vulnerable clients often involved many other government and non government organisations, each with agendas and 'case plans'. As my clients struggled with daily life, 'professional' after professional would turn up at the door, to let them know what they should be doing. It was extremely rare that these professionals ever came together to coordinate and prioritise. The cost of all of these front line professionals was astromical, and the outcomes for aboriginal people were very poor. There was never a service beyond the crisis, the supervision order, the assessment etc. I wrote briefing notes, reports and presentations on these issues to absolutely no avail. I couldn't find like minded colleagues to team up with. So I went into the world of data and reporting, and continued to try. All that happened is that I learnt a lot more about how wrong government is getting it. As I failed to achieve systemic change I bowed out of front line social work practice, and reporting. In short I let the odds defeat me. I told myself I didn't create the problem, and I was powerless to create the solution. I lost hope.
By any measure Dr Tracy Westerman had odds against her, that were far higher than any I have ever faced. However, in her practice and now this book she has demonstrated how to take an impossible situation, (that has been a few centuries in the making) and to solve it by providing solid culturally secure and evidence based (it actually is) training, assessment tools and interventions. Not only this, Dr Westerman has created a reliable and stable data set. The first of it's kind for indigenous Australians. She has created an indigenous psychology scholarship program. She is responding by building an army of indigenous psychologists. Dr Westerman is solving the entrenched intergenerational trauma that undermines Aboriginal mental health and resilience. She has used her own time and money to launch initiative after initiative, conduct rigorous research to demonstrate outcomes, and to campaign for sustainable funding.
It shouldn't have been possible. But it is clear that impossible is not a word Dr Tracy Westerman will accept.
I voted yes in the referendum, not because I thought it would be a silver bullet, but because I saw it as a small step in the right direction. Because the alternative was so abusive it was a choice no decent human could make. To support the work of the Westerman Jila Institute for Indigenous Mental Health, is a giant leap in the right direction. It's exciting.
This book is a road map on how to overcome impossible odds and powerlessness when living as, or working with aboriginal people. I wish with all my heart I had it 35 years ago.
A book of hope, for all Australians.
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