This paper utilizes observations and statistics from the case histories from Banyan House, a residential drug treatment program, in an attempt to expose the differences between the myths held as facts by the public and the real parameters and causes of the development of substance abuse by the individual. It includes a description of the treatment approach as it arises out of the perceived development of a substance abusing young adult. It brings to focus the family and parenting situations which appear to be precursors of substance abuse and suggests the possibility of identifying “high risk” individuals prior to the onset of substance abuse. Finally, it emphasizes the importance of the community accepting responsibility to find ways of providing help to parents and their children.

Many of today’s Aborigines, when placed in the Western educational environment, are faced with a range of psychological problems. This is partly because the education system is based on Western traditions and culture which, knowingly or unknowingly, tends to ignore almost completely Aboriginal culture and traditions.

For teachers to develop strategies that will help themselves and their students in the class room, attention must be focused on situations that have contributed to the Aborigines’ low psychological appreciations of Western education.

Just as computer delivered instruction in urban Australian schools remains an unknown quantity, its role in tribal Aboriginal schools and in urban schools which increasingly cater to tribal children is even more unclear. There are some exciting possibilities for Aboriginal education. Computer courseware can provide the highly visual, graphics oriented type of instruction which appeals to Aboriginal children and may tap their learning style. Also, the new technology should be able to overcome limitations of bilingual programs set by the cost of producing language materials for many different language groups. For example, with the Prologic Authoring Language (PAL), it is a simple matter to work through a developed program and change the text from one language to another.

Historically, universities and colleges have been preoccupied with studying Aborigines, and to a much lesser extent Islanders, doing research on them, and teaching about them. In the mid 1970s, however, the then Mt Lawley, Townsville, and Torrens Colleges of Advanced Education independently launched special entry, indigenous teacher education programs. By providing personal, social and academic support for an enclave of Aborigines and Islanders within white institutions, it was hoped that students would be able to learn to cope with the demands of tertiary education and graduate with the same qualifications as other students in the colleges. With varying degrees of success, this has happened, such that this enclave support model has been adopted in a number of other colleges and in universities, and is now the most important single reason for the increased number of Aboriginal and Islander students in tertiary education.