Category: Community of Practice

Mental Health & Cultural Diversity Community of Practice

Posted on December 21, 2021 by - Community of Practice

For the last two years, VTMH has been facilitating the Mental Health and Cultural Diversity Community of Practice (MHCD CoP). MHCD CoP supports a community of professionals to have conversations about cultural diversity and mental health, and to share the successes and challenges they face when putting their learning into practice.

The group met 5 times in 2021, including a planning meeting that guided the direction of the program for 2021. Around 10 – 15 members attended each session. The CoP engaged a range of speakers to discuss contemporary practice issues such as undertaking meaningful research with refugee communities and ethical considerations around the handling of stories, experiences of working with communities during public housing lockdown and racial discrimination and vilification.

The final session saw the participation of Pam Anders, CEO of Mental Health Reform Victoria who presented on the current reform process in response to diversity, equity and inclusion.

The overall purpose of the CoP is to promote better practice in the delivery of culturally safe and responsive mental health care. Membership to the CoP is open to people with an interest in mental health and cultural diversity working across a range of roles within publicly funded mental health services, and other community sectors, including educational and social services, across the state of Victoria.

If you or someone you know is interested in joining this group, please email your enquiry to mhcd.cop@svha.org.au

Join a community of people passionate about mental health and cultural diversity practice

Posted on August 5, 2020 by - Community of Practice

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.