The Embrace Lived Experience Group provides key input into the Embrace Project. The Group had its bi-annual face-to-face meeting from 3-4 April 2023 in Canberra.

This meeting consisted of Embrace Project updates, group activities, sessions on safety contracting and collective care, and input into the development of a resource for community leaders and Suicide Prevention Pilot Project activities.

In addition to this, monthly online meetings have occurred with the Group in October and December 2022 and February and May 2023. The most recent online meeting was led by National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) to help inform their 10-year National Eating Disorders Strategy 2023-2033.

We thank the group for their excellent contributions and look forward to meeting with them again soon!

The Embrace Project Stakeholder Group is a key advisory group for the Embrace Project that brings together experts from across the multicultural and mental health sectors to share their knowledge, expertise and connections with multicultural communities and the mental health workforce.

The Stakeholder Group meets twice yearly and recently met face to face on 17 May in Melbourne. Key highlights from this meeting included:

• Updates from Mental Health Australia, Department of Health and Aged Care and the Embrace Project.
• Overview of ongoing sector mental health issues and responses with a highlight on Embrace Project responses.
• Overview of the Embrace Suicide Prevention Pilot Project and group input via an interactive activity.
• Group input into what’s working well/best practice, priorities/issues and collective partnership.

The Embrace Project Team would like to convey a huge thank you to the Stakeholder Group members for making this such a valuable gathering. We look forward to meeting again later in the year.

In April last year, the Embrace Project undertook an Expression of Interest (EOI) process for PHNs to receive free targeted support to implement the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia (the Framework) over a six – twelve-month period. As part of this process 11 PHNs participated.

The Embrace Project provided formal support for a period of one year to improve CALD mental health service delivery and build the capacity of PHNs to respond to CALD communities within their catchment. This consisted of online monthly meetings, online Community of Practice meetings, guided resources and Framework training and workshops.

Through this process, the participating PHNs have established working groups, developed and implemented action plans, and made real progress towards improving their cultural responsiveness.

Going forward the Embrace Project will: 

• Compile a final report and make recommendations to inform future engagement with PHNs 
• Continue to offer informal support to PHNs through website resources, email and phone enquiries, and general Embrace communication modalities
• Organise twice yearly online Community of Practice meetings for PHNs to share learnings and progress
• Conduct a survey with all 31 PHNs in November 2023 to evaluate progress of CALD mental health work
• Continue to attend the PHN CALD Community of Practice meetings

We are excited to share our ongoing engagement with PHNs. Keep an eye out for this space!

The Embrace Project is implementing a CALD Community Engagement Project which strives to increase engagement and close partnerships with CALD communities and support for mental health. Over four years and four phases we will engage with 12 communities.

CALD community engagement has commenced with the following three communities for the Project:

• Rohingya community in Melbourne, VIC – with Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre (SMRC)
• Chinese/Mandarin speaking community in NSW – with Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS)
• Youth in Darwin, NT – with Melaleuca Australia

Following consultation with key advisory groups and stakeholders the following three new communities have been selected for Year 2 of the Project:

• Pasifika and Māori community in Queensland
• Afghan community in Adelaide
• African women in Western Australia

An evaluation for the Project will occur across the 12 communities and a successful independent contractor has been selected for this work. It is expected that the evaluation and activities for Year 2 of the Project will commence in July 2023.

Check out the highlights below from the first three organisations who have shared their community engagement and co-design processes.

“Systemic barriers and cycles of oppression need addressing."

“Young people want a safe space, no judgement, role models who support things in general in the community, people you can relate to.”   

“People need to understand young people’s language so they can open up and give views. Make activities that work for specific groups of CALD young people.”  

"Resources can act as catalysts for conversation. We need empowering resources – a call to action, not just telling us what is happening."

These are some of the words of the young people we have been learning from. Over the last six months, we have been able to hear from nearly a hundred people - young people, caregivers, cultural community leaders and stakeholders about the mental health and wellbeing needs and potential solutions of CALD young people in Darwin. A steering committee was formed with 15 young people, they reviewed what was found in the peer reviewed and grey literature, key messages from the hundred surveys and interviews, and activities/tools available. The steering group was split into two groups (12 to 18 years and 18 to 25 years) and they selected two different types of resources to develop together: a podcast and videos of personal stories. Rich philosophical conversations came from both groups. We are very honoured that the young people came together and shared their experiences and ideas.

Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre (SMRC) in partnership with Mental Health Australia and the Embrace Project, is reaching out to the local Rohingya community. Focus groups planned and run by their two Rohingya bicultural workers identified significant stress within the community around the Government’s recent changes to their temporary and safe haven enterprise visas.

SMRC worked with Springvale Rise Primary School, Refugee Legal and Better Place Australia to bring a Visa Information Session which included a stress management segment. The session was well attended, with many general and personal questions answered and follow-up support organised.

The CASS team has successfully completed Phase 2 of the CALD Community Engagement Project. This involved conducting ten comprehensive interviews with mental health professionals, social workers, and community leaders. Four co-design workshops were also organised, engaging community members with lived experiences, caregivers, youth, and seniors.

Throughout the planning, design, and execution of the community engagement process, the CASS project team has prioritised acknowledging the diversity within the local Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking community in Sydney. This emphasis on inclusivity has allowed the Project to gather firsthand evidence, identify prevalent mental health issues within the community and map out the available resources to address such challenges.

The Embrace Suicide Prevention Pilot (ESPP) is a collaboration between Embrace, Suicide Prevention Australia (SPA), RU OK?, and evaluation partner, Kantar Public. The ESPP seeks to further inform best practice and increase sector and community capacity to prevent suicide in multicultural communities by piloting implementation of the Framework within R U OK? and SPA, combined with an approach for R U OK? resource co-design in CALD communities.

The end of this quarter finds ESPP implementation in full swing. R U OK? is working in partnership with leaders from Arabic, Hindi and Vietnamese-speaking communities as part of the resource co-design process. Together, they will co-facilitate a series of workshops to create culturally appropriate resources for their communities. Community leaders will also facilitate the testing of the created resources and be involved in the evaluation of the co-design process and outcomes. The co-design process followed by resource testing in the communities is expected to run through September/October of this year, with evaluation findings finalised before the year’s end.

On 1 May, all Pilot partners facilitated a roundtable discussion that was coordinated by SPA in conjunction with the National Suicide Prevention Conference in Canberra. Attended by representatives from Pilot communities, CALD lived experience, government, mental health services, and suicide prevention organisations, Pilot partners shared information about the pilot, solicited input, and facilitated a discussion focused on addressing key gaps and learning from excellence in CALD suicide prevention. While there were far too many themes to summarise here, one overarching theme was the importance of proactive community engagement and community-led solutions to address the unique needs of multicultural communities. Roundtable participants also illustrated the fact that Australia is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse countries in the world with over one third of participants born overseas, more than half with one or both parents born overseas, and 19+ languages spoken across the group.

The ESPP team will continue to build upon the learnings and recommendations gained throughout the pilot.

The Embrace Project is on social media and we would love to connect with you. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube - or search for us @EmbraceMultiMH.

For more information visit the Embrace website https://embracementalhealth.org.au

02 6285 3100

9-11 Napier Close, Deakin ACT 2600

multicultural@mhaustralia.org

www.embracementalhealth.org.au