Dear friends and stakeholders,  

Welcome to our first e-newsletter for 2024, which marks the beginning of Harmony Week - a week-long celebration of Australia’s rich cultural diversity and the benefits and strengths it brings to the nation.  

Harmony Week is observed annually in March and includes the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21 March. 

This week underscores the importance of embracing and celebrating the strengths found in our differences, be it in traditions, languages, or faiths. Through the theme of “everyone belongs,” the week promotes inclusivity, respect, and a shared sense of belonging, all of which are essential to positive mental health outcomes.   

As highlighted by the 2021 Census, over half of Australian residents (51.5 percent) were born overseas or have at least one parent who was. This diversity encompasses the richness of our nation, from the enduring culture of First Nations Australians to the vibrant traditions and cultures introduced by immigrants from across the globe. Participation in Harmony Week offers an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the diverse cultures and communities that coexist within Australia, promoting inclusivity and unity.  

As Australia's cultural landscape continues to evolve, the Embrace Project remains committed to improving access to culturally responsive services and supports and empowering multicultural communities to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

To learn more about engaging in Harmony Week events within your state or territory, visit https://www.harmony.gov.au/events. 

Warm regards,

The Embrace Project team

Embrace Multicultural Mental Health
Phone: (02) 6285 3100
Email: multicultural@mhaustralia.org
Website: www.embracementalhealth.org.au

Embrace Project Updates

• ‘Embrace’ the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia at our next webinar! - Register here 
• CALD Community Engagement Project (CCEP) Updates – New resources to share! 
• Primary Health Network Engagement Updates – New resources to share! 
• Embrace Suicide Prevention Pilot Update
• Embrace Lived Experience Group Update    
• Staff Updates

New Resources Spotlights - find these and more on Mental Health Australia’s Embrace Multicultural Mental Health website

• FASSTT network resources to support multicultural communities impacted by global crisis and conflict 
• PHN Multicultural Health Framework 
• New Research: Improving mental health outcomes for CALD youth 
• One Door Mental Health’s Bilingual Hospital 2 Home (BH2H) in Western Sydney

Partner and Sector Updates and Announcements

• Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia (FECCA)
• National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA)
• Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care
• Suicide Prevention Australia 
• 2024 Rural Mental Health Conference  

The Embrace Project is excited to announce the launch of the 2024 PHN Survey, an important step in our ongoing commitment to support PHNs to improve mental health outcomes for CALD communities. 

This year’s survey builds upon our last PHN survey in 2022 to provide fresh insights on the work PHNs are doing in multicultural mental health, their experience with the Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia, and the type of implementation support desired. This information will be used by the Embrace Project to inform future strategic and operational planning.  

All PHN Mental Health Leads have received a link to the survey via the PHN Cooperative. One response per PHN is requested.  

Responses are requested no later than COB 28 March.    

Thank you in advance to all PHNs for helping the Embrace Project best support you and your commissioned mental health services. 

The Embrace Project kicked off 2024 with the two-year membership review and renewal process of the Embrace Lived Experience Group. The membership review and renewal process is designed to be a positive experience, enabling self-reflection and reconfirming commitment to this key advisory group for the Embrace Project, consisting of CALD mental health consumers and carers from each state and territory across Australia.  

As part of this process, recruitment for two openings within the group is underway in collaboration with the Embrace Project, Alliance partners, FECCA and NEDA.  Over the coming month, the Embrace Project will onboard new members to the group in preparation for the first in-person meeting taking place from 22-23 April in Canberra. 

The Embrace Project extends its utmost thanks and appreciation to past and current members of the group for their courage and commitment to share their lived experience, advising the Project on the issues of most importance to mental health consumers and carers from CALD backgrounds. 

In February, Mental Health Australia and the Embrace Project bid farewell to Ash Badhan, Senor Project Officer for the Embrace Project, and welcomed Urooj Hanafi into the role. We thank Ash for her dedication and invaluable contributions to the Project over the past 2+ years and wish her all the best in her future endeavors. 

In early April, Mental Health Australia will bid a fond farewell to Crystal Halbmaier, Senior Program Manager for the Embrace Project.  Crystal joined the Embrace Project one year ago to lead the Embrace Suicide Prevention Pilot and seamlessly stepped into the Senior Program Manager role last October with a strong understanding of the Project, elevating our efforts and inspiring us all with her leadership. We are grateful for Crystal’s passion for the Project which has been a guiding light, setting a clear path forward with hope and purpose. While we are saddened by Crystal's departure, we wish her all the best as she takes time to focus on her family and their upcoming international relocation.

Recruitment for the new Embrace Project Senior Program Manager is underway with an announcement expected in the coming weeks.

Below we spotlight new resources supporting communities, service providers and the sector in improving multicultural mental health outcomes. These and other helpful resources can be found on the  Embrace Multicultural Mental Health website, an information hub providing Australian mental health services and multicultural communities access to resources, links to services, translated materials, best practice examples, and information in a culturally accessible format. 

The Forum for Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT) have shared the following new helpful resources from across their network that can be used by service providers, communities and educators to support multicultural communities impacted by global crises or conflict: 

• Access a guide to Managing Sensitive Content and Conversations in Classrooms, by Foundation House, that lists strategies and methods for supporting students belonging to refugee backgrounds. 
• The Young People’s Exposure to War and Conflict in Media: A Guide for Schools and Community Members, by QPASTT, is primarily designed for teacher and community members who are caring for, or working with, children and young people who are survivors of refugee trauma, including intergenerational trauma. It looks at the impact of media coverage, trauma responses in children and young people, as well as tips for talking to them about war and conflict. 
• Hints for Healing, by STARTTS, contains a suite of practical resources aimed at supporting educators and school counsellors who play an instrumental role in the recovery, resettlement and development of learners with a refugee experience. 
  • In particular, Hints for Healing: Supporting Students Impacted by Violence in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories offers valuable insights into trauma-informed approaches for educators, with resources and strategies to address the unique mental health challenges faced by students impacted by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.
• In case you missed it, here’s a friendly reminder about Witness to War— a free and confidential national multilingual telephone hotline for people in Australia affected by overseas conflicts. Staffed by mental health practitioners and bicultural support workers, Witness to War provides incidental counselling, information about available support, and connections to other local services. Witness to War staff can speak to callers in Arabic, Hebrew, Dari, Ukrainian and English and in other languages with an interpreter. Flyers in these languages are also available on the Witness to War website. 

Learn more about how to support the mental health needs for CALD youth through new research on Effectively supporting Culturally and Linguistically (CALD) young people with their mental health and wellbeing - does this matter or exist in Australia?

This paper reviews existing mental health programs and interventions for CALD youth in Australia and identifies core barriers that hinder CALD youth engagement with current mental health services. The findings from the review suggest ways to reduce barriers to meet the unique mental health needs of CALD young people. 

The Bilingual Hospital 2 Home (BH2H) is a program within One Door Mental Health. It is funded by Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to support culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, including refugees, asylum seekers and international students living in Western Sydney with their mental health. The program is run by bilingual workers who are fluent in Arabic (all dialects), Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Cantonese, Mandarin, Teochew, Dari, Farci, Ukrainian, and Russian. The team has a strong academic background in the fields of social work, psychology and social policy, and have a strong understanding of the impact of migration on mental health. 

The program uses a psychosocial approach with the clients to improve their mental health and increase their community integration. This is done through providing one-on-one goal-oriented casework for individual clients and through organising group activities to increase their social connections. Specifically, the Bilingual Hospital 2 Home (BH2H)  program works closely with various service providers and connects clients to mental health and other social care services. The program aims to increase clients’ understanding of mental health, and advocate on their behalf regarding service access. Additionally, they provide tailored community education sessions to groups of community members at various settings.   

You can contact representatives of Bilingual Hospital 2 Home (BH2H) via:  

Phone: (02) 9199 6185 
Email: bilingualH2H@onedoor.org.au 

The National Ethnic Disability Alliance (NEDA) and LGBTIQ+ Health Australia are pleased to announce that the Our Voices Our Lives Our Way learning website and resource hub are now live! 

Our Voices Our Lives Our Way is a project by and for LGBTIQ+ people with disability, focusing on storytelling, advocacy, and community. 

The project includes an interactive learning website full of new resources, online workshops, and a resource hub of existing information relevant to LGBTIQ+ disability communities. The website includes free online resources that we’ve co-designed and developed for LGBTIQ+ people with disability. 

Visit the Our Voices Our Lives Our Way Learning Website 

Visit the LGBTIQA+ Disability Resource Hub 

Check out their Instagram for updates, stories and more @ourvoicesourway 

Want to be kept up to date on new resources, free online workshops, and interviews with LGBTIQ+ people with disability? Subscribe to the monthly newsletter!

This is a joint initiative by LGBTIQ+ Health Australia and the National Ethnic Disability Alliance, funded by the Department of Social Services, through the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Grant. 

What is the Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project? 

The Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project (the project) utilises both satellite and local radio broadcasting to provide national delivery of suicide, mental health, and well-being messages through a network of over 300 radio stations nationwide. The project also distributes a monthly booklet and audio CD to promote suicide prevention, help-seeking behaviours, and well-being to a large national audience. Every three months throughout the project, specific content is packaged for youth, Indigenous and CALD audiences and distributed to all community radio stations broadcasting to these audience groups (including information in a range of community languages).  

How can the Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project help PHNs? 

The CBAA project team can assist with: 

• Promotion of any large, regional suicide prevention and/or mental health projects, programs or initiatives developed or supported by PHNs through community radio stations and networks in the areas covered. 
• Linking PHNs to their local community radio station/s to support ongoing, local opportunities or promotion of programs, interviews etc.  

What is the geographical footprint of the Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project? 

The Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project is national, with all our member stations listed at: www.cbaa.org.au/about/our-members  

Options exist for broadcasting of content to all of these stations through the Community Radio Suicide Prevention Project, along with targeting of content to specific regions and/or locations.  

Additional information  

A key feature of the project is promotion of help-seeking and sharing positive lived experience stories as a way of encouraging others to seek help (or to support those around them), including people from diverse cultural backgrounds. The project team welcomes ideas for content which features local community members with lived experience who would like to share their stories, or which features examples of local community initiatives which are making a difference in the area of suicide prevention and mental health

Contact Details

Ian Watson 
Project Manager 
Email: iwatson@cbaa.org.au 
Phone: 0448 801 381 

Provided by Community Broadcasting Association of Australia 

Suicide Prevention Australia’s 25th National Suicide Prevention Conference is coming to Adelaide from 30 April to 2 May 2024! 

The event will enable attendees to hear from leading international and national suicide prevention experts, the latest research developments and connect with key government officials and sector peers. 

Keynote speakers include Prof Tom Calma AO (Diego De Leo Presentation), A/Professor Laura Shannonhouse, A/Prof David McDaid, Mr. Shane Fitzsimmons AO AFSM and Mr. Nathan Bolton. 

The theme, ‘Collective Courage. Accelerate Impact’, highlights the courage required to confront this issue head on, the unity needed to face it together, and the swift action that must be taken to save lives. 

Across three days, Suicide Prevention Australia expects to see over 600 of the brightest minds come together to hear from 120+ leading experts to empower meaningful change and save lives. To view the program or register, head to conference.suicidepreventionaust.org 

The Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association is excited to announce the 2024 Rural Mental Health Conference! The conference website www.anzmh.asn.au/rmhc is now live. Visit the website to submit expressions of interest to present at the conference or register interest to attend the conference.

Presenter applications will open on Friday 19 April, and there will be 60 presentation spots available.

Registrations will open on Thursday 27 June, with a super early bird rate available for 60 registrations for a limited time.

If you would like further information about the Embrace Project or to discuss how we could support you, please contact us via email on multicultural@mhaustralia.org or call 02 6285 3100.