Knowledge Hub

Orygen has created a collection of resources about cultural diversity and mental wellbeing. The resources were developed to support the knowledge and skills of the youth mental health workforce, to work safely and inclusively with multicultural young people. 

This resource provides information about culturally informed ways to support the mental health of refugee and asylum seeker children. It aims to support practitioners from a range of mental health, social work and community-sector backgrounds who work with children and families from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. 

This resource is based on national and international research evidence. It does not include information about children or families seeking asylum who are in immigration detention.

This resource is co-produced with Emerging Minds and Australian Institute of Family Studies.

'Competency Standards Framework Culturally responsive clinical practice: Working with people from migrant and refugee backgrounds establishes recommended and optimal cultural responsiveness competency standards for clinicians in all healthcare settings. Delivering quality care to people from migrant and refugee backgrounds requires clinicians to adopt culturally responsive practices and utilise competencies enabling them to communicate and work effectively with this cohort. The purpose of the Framework is to inform the development of clinical education, training, professional development curricula and competency standards for clinicians. The Framework is intended to be flexible and is designed to apply across a range of healthcare settings and across a range of curricula and competency standards models. The Framework has been widely endorsed by peak professional bodies for clinicians.' (Migrant and Refugee Women's Health Partnership)

This guide was developed by the Migrant and Refugee Women's Health Partnership, 2019.

The good practice framework provides practical guidance in designing mental health services for young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.This framework was written by the Centre for Multicultural Youth for Orygen as part of the Youth Enhanced Services program, National Programs.

Published in InPsych, June 2011 by the Australian Psychological Society (APS)

Abstract

This paper presents a systematic review that assessed the different types of mental health programs and interventions available for young people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia, and identified core elements of practice for supporting the mental health of CALD youth, and key barriers that preclude CALD youth from engaging with mental health services. A total of 19 articles met inclusion criteria and a total of six distinct practices were identified: (1) personalization, identity and recognition of trauma; (2) creative expression; (3) cultural competence; (4) self-efficacy and empowerment; (5) social connections and relationships; and (6) information and content delivery. Key barriers related to engagement with CALD youth mental health programs included language and literacy barriers, stigma and shame, and service providers’ limited cultural competency, and lack of diverse understandings of wellbeing. The findings from this review suggest several avenues for ensuring practice effectively meets the unique mental health needs of CALD young people and reduces barriers to their access and engagement.

Published: 05 November 2023

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15332985.2023.2273227

One of the best ways to help your service meet the needs of multicultural Australians is to follow examples of best practice.

The Embrace Project is collecting examples of providers who have policies and methods in place to ensure they are culturally responsive, inclusive and diverse in their services.

Understanding the evidence and practicing cultural curiosity when working with children from CALD backgrounds

In Foundation House’s Professional Learning Resources Hub you can view or download  resources for schools; including practical; learning tools, good practice examples, case studies, and further support advice. While primarily targeted for schools in the Victorian context, the information and resources provided can be useful for service providers and community organisations in supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people from refugee backgrounds

This editable template can help PHNs and other organisations clearly set out and manage actions identified during Framework implementation for the delivery of culturally responsive mental health care to people from CALD communities.