Information brochure about the Older People's Mental Health Service in the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. Available in the following languages: English and Karen.

There is ongoing global growth of internally displaced people and asylum seekers due to war, persecution and global warming among other disasters. Australia has increasing humanitarian refugee intake which leads us to ask what is being done to care for the mental health needs of this traumatised and growing population in our area? This webinar brings you on the journey of creating a new service for the targeted population of newly arrived Iraqi and Syrian refugees aged 0 to 24 years of age living in North West Melbourne and why specialised refugee access services are needed, as well as what initial learnings from this service health professionals can consider within their practice or interaction with refugee service users.

The PHN Multicultural Health Framework aims to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and experiences for multicultural communities across all PHN regions. It provides high-level guidance and best practice actions to support PHNs to deliver locally informed and relevant responses in partnership with other stakeholders. The Framework was developed by representatives from approximately 20 PHNs including members of the PHN Multicultural Health Framework Working Group and the National PHN Cultural Diversity Community of Practice. Development involved a review of existing frameworks and guidelines including those already developed by PHNs and key sector leaders including Mental Health Australia (the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia), Migrant and Refugee Health Partnership, Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, and the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health. The Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia and the PHN Multicultural Health Framework are complementary resources that work hand-in-hand with the former providing a tool for operationalizing continuous improvements in culturally responsive mental health service delivery for PHNs and their commissioned mental health services.

This guide aims to support Primary Health Networks in getting started with implementation of the Framework within their organisation and commissioned services by providing step-by-step recommendations, key considerations, and sources of support.

Mental health promotion and prevention strategies for CALD people should primarily aim to reduce stigma and increase mental health literacy. It is also important to design multicultural mental health promotion and prevention initiatives that focus on the key determinants impacting on CALD communities, and ensure culturally tailored approaches.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW): This report explores the use of linked data to report on the health of CALD populations, including it’s benefits, challenges and limitations. It investigates each of the available CALD variables individually, using 3 health outcomes to explore differences between CALD groups within each CALD variable.

This resource was developed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agencymental

This Guide has been developed by Foundation House (The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture) and provides information on sensitively responding to students’ trauma reactions supports their recovery from traumatic refugee experiences.

This Guide has been developed by Foundation House (The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture) and provides information for those working with survivors of traumatic refugee experiences.

Settlement service literacy refers to the ability of migrants to access, understand and critically navigate settlement services. In Australia, increasing numbers of culturally and linguistically diverse migrants require settlement services to assist their transition. However, there are barriers to migrant’s ability to utilise settlement services which are related to their level of settlement service literacy. This review aims to shed light on how settlement service literacy influences new migrant’s utilisation of settlement services, and the consequences that it has for health, wellbeing and sense of belonging.

This guide is designed to support providers of mental health care to be able to deliver their services in a gender affirming way to support the needs of trans and/or gender diverse people.

This study addressed the limited understanding of suicide risk and patterns among migrants in Australia. It examined national-level suicide rates and trends in the Australian population to identify migrant groups which are disproportionately affected by suicide. Visit the link to view the full study. The Lancet Regional Health-Western Pacific 2023;39:100845 Published Online 17July 2023

Suicide Prevention Australia has developed a policy position about culturally and linguistically diverse communities suicide prevention.

The FASSTT network has released an information sheet for communities, educators and health professionals to understand the impact of international conflict on people who have experienced refugee-related trauma and how to respond. The resource outlines common signs of trauma in adults, children and young people, how people can access urgent support if they are concerned about someone’s wellbeing, as well as details about the support FASSTT agencies can provide to communities across Australia and how to refer people to our services.

Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre provides this booklet to help you: Recognise the signs of suicide; and Talk with someone you are worried about who may be thinking about suicide or showing signs of wanting to end their life. This booklet is translated into 24 languages, including: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Farsi, German, Haka, Hazaragi, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Karen, Korean, Maori, Nepalese, Polish, Punjabi, Rohingya, Russian, Samoan, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Tigrinya, Vietnamese

International students face unique stressors, including a greater risk of depression, financial and housing stress, academic pressures, and navigating cultural and language differences far from home. These stressors, combined with barriers to seeking help, can increase their risk of suicide. Addressing these challenges requires, a multi-faceted, student-empowered approach across systems, services, and agencies. Since 2022, the International Students’ Wellbeing Taskforce, led by The Victorian Suicide Prevention and Response Office at the Victorian Department of Health, has worked to support international students’ wellbeing in Victoria. The taskforce has now concluded and has produced many valuable wellbeing and suicide prevention resources. This specific resource provides a list of Mental health, wellbeing and suicide prevention resources for Supporting international students’ wellbeing in Victoria.

The Australian Refugee Health Practice Guide can be used by doctors, nurses and other primary care providers to inform on-arrival and ongoing health care for people from refugee backgrounds, including people seeking asylum.

The Multicultural Access and Equity Policy is about ensuring that Australian Government programs and services meet the needs of all Australians, regardless of their cultural and linguistic backgrounds, by the Department of Home Affairs

Australia is a multicultural and linguistically diverse country. Despite the vital role of religion/spirituality in the mental health of people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds, it is not commonly included in their mental health care. A rapid review was conducted to critically evaluate the studies that identifed relevant religious/spiritual aspects regarding mental health care for CALD communities. After a systematic search and screening, sixteen empirical studies were included. The fndings of the review suggest that people from CALD backgrounds draw strength and comfort from their religion to support mental health. Religious/spiritual practices were identifed as efective mental health strategies by CALD people. Religious leaders were noted to be important sources of mental health support and guidance for individuals from some CALD communities. Collaboration of religious leaders in the mental health care, and integration of religious/ spiritual practices into mainstream mental health interventions, may improve mental health care for people with CALD backgrounds.

People exposed to more unfavourable social circumstances are more vulnerable to poor mental health over their life course, in ways that are often determined by structural factors which generate and perpetuate intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and poor health. Addressing these challenges is an imperative matter of social justice. In this paper we provide a roadmap to address the social determinants that cause mental ill health. Relying as far as possible on high-quality evidence, we first map out the literature that supports a causal link between social determinants and later mental health outcomes. Given the breadth of this topic, we focus on the most pervasive social determinants across the life course, and those that are common across major mental disorders. We draw primarily on the available evidence from the Global North, acknowledging that other global contexts will face both similar and unique sets of social determinants that will require equitable attention. Much of our evidence focuses on mental health in groups who are marginalized, and thus often exposed to a multitude of intersecting social risk factors. These groups include refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons, as well as ethnoracial minoritized groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) groups; and those living in poverty. We then introduce a preventive framework for conceptualizing the link between social determinants and mental health and disorder, which can guide much needed primary prevention strategies capable of reducing inequalities and improving population mental health. Following this, we provide a review of the evidence concerning candidate preventive strategies to intervene on social determinants of mental health. These interventions fall broadly within the scope of universal, selected and indicated primary prevention strategies, but we also briefly review important secondary and tertiary strategies to promote recovery in those with existing mental disorders. Finally, we provide seven key recommendations, framed around social justice, which constitute a roadmap for action in research, policy and public health. Adoption of these recommendations would provide an opportunity to advance efforts to intervene on modifiable social determinants that affect population mental health.