Acknowledgement of Country

We acknowledge the Whadjuk people of the Noongar Nation as the Traditional Owners of the land on which we will gather, beautiful Walyalup (Fremantle). We acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded; this always was and always will be Whadjuk Boodja. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across this vast country and to Māori, Pasifika, and all First Nations people who we warmly invite to APSAD 2026.

This is Whadjuk country, where the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) meets the ocean, and stories of creation are carried on the sea breeze. Boorloo (Perth) is the longest city on the planet, a wide urban sprawl stretched along a coastline of brilliant white coral-sand beaches. From this city, our minds and hearts turn outward across the Wheat Belt plains, through great forests of the South West and along the rugged south coast, then up through the million square kilometres of the Western Deserts and into the red earth pindan of the Pilbara and the mangrove coasts and ancient stone country of the Kimberley. Western Australia spans more than a third of this continent. It holds stories across more than 80 Aboriginal language groups, each carrying deep cultural knowledge, law, and connection to Country that has sustained people for tens of thousands of years.

Theme: Storytelling as Healing

This year’s conference theme - Storytelling Shapes Us: Community, Clinical, Research, Healing - invites us to listen deeply and share courageously, connecting knowledge and practice for healing. Storytelling sits at the heart of First Nations culture and traditions; it is how wisdom is passed on, how learning takes root, and how healing begins. Storytelling is how we can see, hear, and honour lived and living experience. It is how peer wisdom and personal journeys become powerful lessons for growth, recovery, and connection.

We invite researchers, practitioners, policymakers, community workers, and people with lived and living experience to contribute to a program rich in stories and grounded in cultural respect and compassion. This is a space for truth-telling, introspection and reflection, and collaboration; a place where evidence and experience come together to chart new pathways for hope and healing.

APSAD 2026 Convenors, Whadjuk Noongar Boodja (Perth, Western Australia)