Yvonne Clark

Yvonne Clark is a Kokatha/Wirangu woman from South Australia and resides in Adelaide. She is an Aboriginal leader, researcher and registered clinical psychologist with 30+ years of experience working in Aboriginal service delivery, research, policy, planning, consultancy, coordination, and academia.

As a psychologist, she has primarily worked with Aboriginal children, parents, young people and families. This is the platform for her current research program, which is evaluating culturally respectful interventions to address key social determinants of poor social and emotional wellbeing, including racism, lateral violence and intergenerational trauma.

Yvonne is an Associate Professor and principal Researcher with the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI). She currently holds a NHMRC Investigator Grant and is the CIA on two NHMRC grants spanning over 5 years. The grants are interrelated about improving support and pathways for social emotional wellbeing across the lifespan with a particular focus on Aboriginal mothers, fathers, and young people. Yvonne is inspired and interested in all aspects in the CRE and will incorporate her investigator project into priority 3 'Resilience and prevention' where she has a leadership role.

The depth and breadth of skilled people involved in the CRE is inspirational and Yvonne looks forward to working together. Having lived and worked in the Aboriginal community and faced many hardships she is always hopeful of social and systemic change for a better quality of life for everyone. Her family, especially her children, keep her strong along with visits to and contemplation in beautiful landscapes - that can be anywhere in the world.

Yvonne brings many skills to the CRE, but to mention a few: psychological knowledge as it relates to Aboriginal people, particularly young people; lived experience as an Aboriginal woman; research; collegiality and mentorship.

Yvonne lives and works on Kaurna country in Adelaide, SA.

Her children and broader family; her house and home; and beautiful, peaceful nature landscapes keep Yvonne strong.