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.

She is an Associate Professor Researcher with a joint appointment with the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the University of South Australia. She  currently holds a NHMRC Investigator Grant focused on improving social emotional wellbeing among Aboriginal young people. She is the CIA on two NMHRC grants spanning over 5 years that will evaluate and aim to improve assessments, supports and systemic environment for mothers of Aboriginal babies and their support people. This is to assist Aboriginal babies to flourish and have the best start to life.

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.