Dameyon Bonson

Dameyon (He/Him) is of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent of both the Jawoyn Peoples, from the Mangarrayi, of the Mataranka region (NT) and of the Bari Clan, from Mabuiag Island, of the western island group Kala Lagaw Ya (TSI), called the Wagedagam. Totem is the saltwater crocodile.

He is a cisgender gay male and is recognised as an Indigenous suicide prevention subject matter expert, specifically in Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention. Dameyon has extensive experience working in and with remote Indigenous communities in suicide prevention and in 2013 founded of Black Rainbow, Australia’s first and only national Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention charity organisation.

He holds a post graduate qualification in Suicidology and is currently undertaking a Master of Suicidology by research into male suicide. In 2020, he listed among Vogue’s Top 20 Change Makers in 2020. Dameyon is considered an Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB diversity and inclusion expert and has developed the country’s first Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB cultural competency program for suicide prevention, health, and social services. His work has been the catalyst for three Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB suicide prevention and wellbeing research studies underway in Australia. Dameyon currently leads a co-design project with Indigenous LGBTIQA+SB young people of the NT, with aims to create safer homes and communities.

He is an independent practitioner, providing private consultancy from his hometown of Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT). In 2022, he accepted an invitation to join the global Atlantic Fellowship cohort at the University of Melbourne.