Each session involves an open conversation with a panel members and opportunities to participate via Q & A.
We’ve been sharing practice ideas and discussing rights, equity and power during the current pandemic. We are planning each session based on emerging themes and feedback.
We know that seminars at VTMH are a well-known fixture. A place to hear first-hand from advocates, researchers and practitioners. Thanks to committed speakers and audiences, we’re continuing via Zoom.
We started off in May with Associate Professor Bianca Brijnath, Director of Social Gerontology at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). She presented on ‘Considerations for a population-level response to age, culture and COVID-19’.
Leaders in mental health interpreter education, Dr Shani Tobias, Dr Lola Sundin, Dr Jim Hlavac from Monash University led the July session on ‘Professional Development for Interpreters and Mental Health Clinicians – Recent Developments’. The August session featured Matt Ball. Matt is a leading innovator in mental health practice and spoke on alternative approaches to psychotherapy.
Dr Charishma Ratnam at the Monash Migration and Inclusion Centre will join us on Wed 21 October, to speak about using technology to communicate and engage with diverse communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this time, we have been able to successfully continue with our partnership work with cohealth. In late May, we facilitated two online Reflective Consultation Sessions with mental health teams from cohealth’s Western Psychosocial Support Services and Youth Residential Rehabilitation Services. Workers from both services were asked to reflect on their capacity to address diversity and enhance their own cultural responsiveness. The sessions generated enthusiastic discussion around opportunities to in-bed inclusive and culturally sensitive practices within their services. The teams will use this rich information to develop a service-specific cultural responsiveness plan to address the main issues that were identified. This will include both short term and longer-term goals and actions and will take into consideration their unique needs, capacity and other factors.
We look forward to working with these services to implement some of their ideas and to support their work in this important area of mental health service delivery.
We are hoping to plan more Reflective Consultation Sessions with other cohealth mental health teams in the coming months.
In partnership with the communities we serve, we remain committed to inclusion and diversity. In the way we work with practitioners, teams, organisations and communities. And by advocating for a more socially just and equitable mental health service system.
The Community of Practice (CoP) in Cultural Diversity and Mental Health is a space for practitioners to meet, learn, share practice wisdom with peers, and challenge their thinking.
So far, members of the CoP have met twice since an inaugural planning meeting in February. Their collective ideas are informing the activities that we’re exploring throughout the year.
We’ve been using podcasts, facilitated reflective discussions and presentations to explore implicit bias, systemic racism and explanatory models in mental health practice.
‘Thanks so much for facilitating the meeting today. It was fantastic – great discussion and excellent material presented to initiate this supported discussion!’ Laura, Senior Lecturer and Clinical Psychologist.
People from a range of sectors are eligible to join. Current members include people based in clinical and community mental health services, schools, universities, community health and multicultural services.
While for now, all meetings will be delivered using virtual platforms, the CoP was designed to include both face-to-face and virtual meetings. The community also has its own social network site that supports other activities and information sharing.
New member registrations are currently open. If you would like to be part of this new initiative, please read the Terms of Reference and follow the prompts to register.
These sessions are facilitated by Lew Hess and Dr Radhika Santhanam-Martin (VTMH). We see this initiative as a vital way to develop and evaluate the structures of support available to Interpreters in the mental health sector.
Staff from STAR Health recently explored VTMH’s Orientation to Cultural Responsiveness, a self-paced learning module, attended a live zoom session, and will soon use small group reflective sessions to discuss core concepts and themes and explore areas that they want to consider in more depth.
We’re excited about the possibilities of this new approach, for our ongoing work with STAR Health and beyond. An evaluation is currently underway.
These sessions support practitioners to deepen their understanding of ways to explore diverse spiritual beliefs in conversation with mental health consumers.
Once again, we responded to current circumstances, and took the project online. Participants have enjoyed the flexibility. Attendance have increased and so has our reach. VTMH has been reflecting on what’s been learnt so far and are preparing to run another series later this year.
Anita has sat in senior executive positions in health, justice and community sectors to develop governance and change management initiatives based on organizational and service delivery needs. She has held clinical, management and consultancy roles in both Western Australia and Victoria in the forensic, family violence, child protection, and acute mental health arenas.
Anita is a Registered Psychologist, with a Doctorate in Psychology and Masters of Applied Psychology (Clinical) and carries a deep passion for driving creative initiatives. She has worked extensively with vulnerable populations including children, adolescents, people in custody, migrants and refugees, as well as the elderly.
Anita strongly identifies with the core values that underpin the work of VTMH as a state-wide peak body for intersectional mental health, and is excited to be leading the team and working to strengthen the well-being of diverse communities by contributing to the shaping of high-level strategy, policy and governance.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) resources are now available in many languages. You will find up-to-date information at Health Translations, search ‘Coronavirus’ or COVID-19’.
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