Dear friends and stakeholders,

Over the past few months, Embrace Multicultural Mental Health (the Embrace Project) has welcomed many changes within the Project to continue to provide a national focus on mental health and suicide prevention for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. 

In April 2020, the Embrace Project team welcomed Mental Health Australia's new CEO, Dr Leanne Beagley. Dr Beagley brings over 30 years of experience working in government and primary health care, and clinical and community mental health settings to the organisation.

"I am delighted to have started at Mental Health Australia as the new CEO. I have been here for two months and am learning a great deal despite the information overload. I have been particularly interested to learn more from the Embrace Project team about their work, follow the development of the Framework materials and the website, and hearing about some of the challenges faced by people from CALD backgrounds as they share their lived experience. What a rich source of support and guidance for mental health service providers as they seek to improve their culturally informed work. I am looking forward to supporting this important work going forward," said Dr Beagley.

In further news, Director of Consumer and Carer Programs for Mental Health Australia, Kylie Wake, who is also the lead Director for the Embrace Project, has chosen to move on from the organisation. Kylie has provided wisdom, passion and knowledge to both the current and previous iterations of the Project. The Embrace Project team thanks Kylie for her contributions and leadership.

We are happy to announce that Kylie’s responsibilities as the lead Director for the Embrace Project will now sit with Mental Health Australia Director of External Relations, Lachlan Searle.

The Embrace Project team will miss Kylie and are excited for her and her family as they make this change. We look forward to continue working with Dr Leanne Beagley and Lachlan Searle to improve mental health outcomes for CALD communities. 

Amidst this, the Embrace Project team has been meeting with Alliance members (representatives from Mental Health Australia, FECCA and NEDA) and the CALD Mental Health Consumer and Carer Group to discuss and implement upcoming Project activities for the second half of 2020. We have also invited all Primary Health Networks to submit an expression of interest to receive targeted support from the Project in implementing the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia.

We encourage you to contact us if there is a news item, resource or opportunity you would like us to share and look forward to keeping in touch.

Warm regards,

The Embrace Project team

Embrace Multicultural Mental Health
P   (02) 6285 3100
E  multicultural@mhaustralia.org
W www.embracementalhealth.org.au

Members of the Embrace Project's CALD Mental Health Consumer and Carer Group have developed videos for Mental Health Australia's 'Look after you mental health, Australia' campaign.

During this time of physical distancing and heightened anxiety in our community due to the coronavirus (COVID-19), we are encouraging all Australians to look after their mental health.

To find out more, and to share your own tips on how to look after your wellbeing and mental health, follow #LookAfterYourMentalHealthAustralia on social media and head to lookafteryourmentalhealthaustralia.org.au.

Migration Council Australia has co-developed a multilingual mobile app for Australia’s CALD communities about COVID-19, its impact and available support. The MyAus COVID-19 app allows users to browse articles, search for topics, view short animations with helpful summaries, and find useful tips and contacts to help adjusting during COVID-19. MyAus COVID-19 is free and available in 25 languages.

Read more

More than three million Australians suffer from depression and anxiety and other mental health problems. How easy is it for people from our multicultural communities to access help? They may struggle navigating our health system, with language skills or gaining culturally appropriate information.  

Are people in our large ethnic communities accessing and receiving culturally and linguistically appropriate information and treatment for mental health concerns? And how is mental health viewed by other cultures? 

Listen here