Overview
Embrace Multicultural Mental Health (the Embrace Project) is run by Mental Health Australia and provides a national focus on mental health and suicide prevention for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
It provides a national platform for Australian mental health services and multicultural communities to access resources, services and information in a culturally accessible format.
The Embrace Project builds on the important work of previous national multicultural mental health projects - including the MHiMA and the Multicultural Mental Health Australia project - and works towards an equitable mental health system which reflects and responds well to the needs of Australia's multicultural population.
The key objectives of the project are to:
- Increase participation of consumers and carers from CALD backgrounds in mental health services,
- Improve outcomes for CALD mental health consumers, carers and their families,
- Increase mental health awareness, knowledge and capacity in CALD communities, and
- Improve cultural responsiveness and diversity of the mental health workforce.
Stakeholder engagement
Mental Health Australia is partnering with the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia (FECCA), and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) to deliver the project.
The project is informed by:
- An Alliance of representatives from Mental Health Australia, FECCA and NEDA, as well as CALD mental health consumer and carer representatives,
- A CALD Mental Health Consumer and Carer Group, composed of representatives from each state and territory,
- A Stakeholder Group, consisting of representatives with multicultural mental health expertise and links to CALD communities.
The project is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health.
Project activities
Project staff, together with consumers, carers and stakeholders, have further developed the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia (the Framework). The Framework was developed to help organisations and individuals evaluate their cultural responsiveness and enhance delivery of services for CALD communities.
Other key activities include:
- Promoting and supporting organisations and services across Australia to implement the Framework
- Maintaining and sharing resources through the Embrace Project website
- Communicating and engaging with CALD mental health consumers and carers, CALD communities and the mental health sector
- Project governance and planning
Project activities will be completed by 31 December 2020.
A final project report is due 31 March 2021.
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