Everyone belongsAs we come to the end of this year’s Harmony Week it is timely to reflect on what cultural harmony means for Australia’s mental health and wellbeing. Australia’s diversity is vibrant and uniquely contributes to our culture, economic prosperity, and international standing. Achieving harmony requires finding ways to respect difference and create belonging and inclusion; factors which are crucial to fostering positive emotional, social, and mental wellbeing. The flipside, however, is the detrimental and harrowing impacts of discrimination and racism upon those being targeted. On the eve of a week supposedly celebrating diversity, it was disturbing to see protests in Melbourne and Sydney that will only contribute to advancing prejudice and bigotry in Australia. Which is just sad considering that Harmony Day aligns with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination with both co-occurring on 21st March each year. Experiences of racism and discrimination in any form can have significant impacts on mental health and wellbeing. Achieving harmony must also include challenging discrimination to ensure diverse communities feel a true sense of belonging and value. It must include naming the problem. It is important to celebrate the many diverse communities in Australia, and Harmony Week is an excellent tool to do that, but racism cannot be dismantled by positivity alone. We have work to do in the mental health sector too. For many diverse cultural groups in Australia, mental health is often hard to discuss and there are many obstacles to overcome when seeking support. It’s vital we continue working to create safe and inclusive mental health services by empowering diverse voices and challenging racism, discrimination and structural inequality. Mental Health Australia’s Embrace Multicultural Mental Health project continues to contribute to national conversations about how we respond to structural inequity and barriers to mental health and wellbeing. The Embrace Framework for Mental Health is a free online tool providing resources, guidelines, and standards for services to improve cultural responsiveness and accessibility. The road to harmony is critical for a rich and inclusive society but is not straightforward and requires challenging structural inequality and discrimination. So, as well as celebrating our diversity and multiculturalism, let’s all use future Harmony Weeks as a catalyst to speak out against prejudice. The more we all do, the less space will remain for those who espouse views that discriminate and incite hate, often causing irreputable harm. As MP Dai Le said on
ABC’s Q and A program on Monday night, “Australia is the united nation”. Harry Lovelock Acting CEO, Mental Health Australia
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