Event Category: Seminar

SPEAKERS

Jacinda Erich (Project Coordinator Bicultural Community Engagement & Wellbeing), Mitra Zarrati (Bicultural Community Engagement Worker) and Cindy Huang (Bicultural Community Engagement Worker) from Access Health and Community

Topic

Cultural Connections to Wellbeing (CC2W) is a twelve-month project, funded by Eastern Metrepolitan Primary Health Network (EMPHN), to engage with community members to increase young multicultural people and their family’s access to mental health services.

The project engaged a bicultural workforce, from the Persian and Chinese communities, to engage with community in the Boroondara and Manningham Council areas. Together, the project team took time to establish and build strong relationships with a range of multicultural community leaders and stakeholders across multiple sectors from youth focused services to education providers and multicultural organisations. These relationships have been key to the project’s success so far, providing advice to steer the project, ensuring our work is culturally appropriate and engaging, and have supported community engagement activities.

The project team have chosen to align strongly with the principals of co-design to ensure service users feel like they are a genuine part of the process. We asked community what the problem is that needs to be addressed to achieve the project aim. This is what young multicultural people told us:

Multicultural young people experience a range of issues when trying to access mental health care. These challenges include a lack of trust due to past negative experiences and not enough therapists who understand their culture. They often don’t know what services are available, and the high costs and long wait times make it even harder.

Cultural beliefs and values influence the way mental health is viewed, understood, and experienced, which can affect how individuals seek help, talk about their struggles, or even recognise there is a problem. Gender roles and generational differences also prevent many from seeking help. These barriers lead young people to rely on informal support or stop seeing a professional altogether, making it harder for them to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

Following the development of the problem statement, the team engaged multicultural young people in a survey or participatory engagement process to test the themes and explore solutions. This work was recently completed and is currently being analysed.

Initial themes emerging are:
• Flexible services models
• Define “low cost”
• Conversations about culture that are meaningful and build trust.
• Documentation in other languages contributes to cultural safety.
• Promote to specific communities.
• Translation processes need reviewing.
• Resource GPs
• Hold discussions with community.
• Normalise mental health

About the speakers

Jacinda Erich – Project Coordinator Bicultural Community Engagement & Wellbeing

Jacinda lives in the outer east of Melbourne in the beautiful Dandenong Ranges where community is everything. After completing a degree in disability, it was working with community to strengthen its capacity to be more inclusive of people with disability that fuelled Jacinda’s passion for the power of community. 

Jacinda has worked in local government and the not-for-profit sector in a multitude of roles from volunteer coordination, community development to health promotion and case management which bring a unique lens to her work. 

Jacinda describes herself as a social justice warrior who is committed to breaking down oppressive systems and that her life’s purpose is to continue working towards health equity for all.

Mitra Zarrati – Bicultural Community Engagement Worker

Mitra Zarrati is a Bicultural Community Engagement Worker at Access Health and Community. Originally from Iran, she immigrated to Australia three years ago and was selected as a Global Talent in 2021 in recognition of her collaboration and expertise in community engagement projects specifically with multicultural background people.

With extensive experience in community-based health projects, Mitra brings both lived and professional insight into her role. She is passionate about improving mental health access for multicultural young people and has facilitated culturally tailored workshops and engagement initiatives within Persian-speaking communities. Mitra is deeply committed to building inclusive, responsive health systems that reflect the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse populations.

Cindy Huang -Bicultural Community Engagement Worker

Cindy Huang is a Bicultural Community Engagement Worker at Access Health & Community. Having migrated from China as an international student in Year 8, she is now completing her final semester of a Philosophy and Sociology degree at the University of Melbourne. Cindy is passionate about mental health and is committed to amplifying the voices of multicultural young people and improving the accessibility of mental health services for diverse communities.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKERS

Facilitators: Naomi Chapman (VTMH Consumer Consultant), Judy Avisar (Self Help Addiction Resource Centre Inc.) and Catherine Simmonds OAM (Three sides of the coin project)

Storytellers: Sunenna and Chandana 

Topic

Three Sides of the Coin project empowers people with lived experience of gambling harm to become advocates for change.

Their personal stories are shared through both online and live performances, which educate the community and train professionals about gambling harm and the intersections of gambling with other health issues eg, mental health, drugs, alcohol, family violence and crime. The purpose is to disrupt the normalisation of gambling, reduce stigma, humanize the people behind the addiction, increase help-seeking, and frame gambling as a public health issue.

Our theatrical video stories are not freely available online, but you can watch a trailer here:  https://threesidesofthecoin.org.au/video-stories/

We will screen 2 short video stories of women affected by their husbands’ gambling, followed by a Q&A session with the storytellers, involving mental health and family violence impacts.

About the speakers

Judy Avisar (Project Coordinator, SHARC Self Help Addiction Resource Centre)

Judy is the backbone of this initiative, and has cradled the project from its infancy in 2012 with Arnold Zable’s story-telling workshops and various theatre forms, to the vibrancy of what it is today.

Catherine Simmonds OAM (Artistic Director)

For three decades Catherine has provided people with a creative space in which to ‘discover the need to speak and speak the unspoken’. Catherine’s focus is the space between the ‘lived experiences’ of communities and the language of art.

Catherine leads the creative process that enables participants to embody and transform their experiences of shame and hurt into powerful acts of performance.

Sunenna

A survivor of gambling harm after her life was turned upside-down by her partner’s gambling addiction, Sunenna shares her lived experience through performance art. In her book, The Journey of a Gambler’s Wife, she tells her tale of struggle to freedom. Through speaking engagements and interviews, she uses her voice to say – there is a way out.

Chandana

Coming from a non-gambling culture, Chandana endured many hurdles upon her arrival in Australia – settlement difficulties, parenting a toddler, and her husband’s battle with alcohol and gambling. Her friendship circle didn’t understand, instead she was blamed for all the problems, and left isolated and insecure. It became worse at home with constant lies, escalation of violence and ultimately seeking help from law enforcement. After years of healing, she gained the courage and determination to share her story in public.

Chandana hopes her story will inspire others to seek help and speak up about the harms of gambling.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKERS

Meena Nathan, Ikran Aden and Lena Ford (Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH))

Topic

The Cultural Engagement Program (CEP) is a state-wide service that works with children, young people and families from multi-cultural and multi-faith backgrounds who are in contact with Victoria’s Child Protection program.  

The CEP was established in 2018 to support child protection working with culturally diverse communities including refugees, migrants and asylum seekers from new and emerging communities. The CEP has evolved into a successful program providing an information and advice service for DFFH programs as well as direct support to children, young people and families who are involved with child protection.  

The team is developing a pilot program, which aims to ensure that children and young people in out-of-home care are connected to their culture, language and faith and, where possible, returned to the care of their kinship community. 

About the speakers

Meena Nathan

Meena is a Cultural Engagement Practitioner with DFFH. She has seventeen years of experience working with children, youth and families in a range of positions within Australia and the United Kingdom. Meena holds a family violence portfolio with the cultural engagement program and continues to advocate for intersectional practice approach when working with culturally diverse families. Meena has acted in a supervisory role, within the cultural engagement program. She holds considerable experience in practice within Victoria’s Child Protection system.

Ikran Aden

Ikran is a Cultural Engagement Practitioner within the Cultural Engagement Program. She has worked in various projects across the child protection system, working with both clients and carers. Her lived experience as a humanitarian immigrant underpins her practice approach and service delivery when working with culturally diverse families. She also holds the faith and spiritual lead practice portfolio within the cultural engagement program and is an advisory group member for research addressing systemic disadvantages for Muslim communities during child protection interventions.

Lena Ford

Lena is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker and Program and Practice Leader of the Cultural Engagement Program.  She has worked in the field of children, youth and families for 25 years, in both government and community settings.  A significant focus of her work has been alongside culturally diverse communities, as well as refugee and asylum seeker communities in Australia and in the UK. 

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKER

Khadija Gbla

About the presentation

In this guest presentation, Khadija will be discussing how neuro-affirming practices is not enough in addressing inequities and ensuring safe inclusive environments for neurodivergent people.  

Khadija, will further emphasise how neuro-affirming practices must be intersectional to address and make visible the additional barriers and injustices that neurodivergent people, who represent marginalising points of identities often experience.

Lastly, Khadija will also discuss how individuals, practitioners, and services, can centre and foster intersectional, neuro-affirming, inclusive, safe practices and environments, that enable people to have a sense of belonging and thus empowering them to be their true authentic self.

About the speaker

Khadija Gbla is multi hyphenate, high profile, passionate and inspiring Afro Indigenous person. She is a neurodivergent and disable award-winning human rights activist, model, inspirational speaker, writer and mentor. She has displayed great courage and determination in achieving her aspirations of giving women, youth and minority groups a voice at a local, state and international level. Khadija utilises her powerful and inspired voice to advocate for structural change and everyday simple actions we can all take to achieve true equality and inclusion for all people. 

Khadija Gbla was born in Sierra Leone, spent her youth in Gambia, and as a teenager put down roots in Australia. Khadija was just 3-years-old when the war broke out in her country, Sierra Leone and 10 years later they attained refugee status and resettled in Adelaide.

Khadija provides advocacy, training, coaching, mentoring and speaking on domestic and family violence, sexual health, racism, female genital mutilation, human rights, gender equality, intersectionality, inclusion and diversity, bias, mental health, disability, NDIS, migrants and refugees and cultural diversity and so much more through her cultural consultancy, Khadija Gbla Cultural Consultancy.

Khadija is the lead voice and campaigner on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Australia. She runs a not for profit organisation ‘Ending Female Genital Mutilation Australia’ which works to protect Australian girls from FGM and to support survivors of FGM.  Khadija provides training for professionals, advocacy and community education for practising communities in Australia.  Khadija is also a TEDx speaker with close to 3 Million views on her talk, “My mother’s strange definition of empowerment”.

Khadija is currently coordinating Covid and flood relief for remote Aboriginal Communities. 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/you-can-help-isolated-and-atrisk-communities

She has represented Australia in the international arena at the Harvard National Model United Nations, Commonwealth Youth Forum, Australian and Africa Dialogue and the Commonwealth Heads of States Women’s Forum.

She also sits on the LGBTIQA+ Minister’s Advisory Council, the Autism SA National Advisory group and is an International Day of People with Disability 2024 Ambassador. 

Khadija has been recognized through numerous awards for her vision and leadership, including 2024 Women and Leadership Australia, 2019 Instyle Magazine, The Advocate for Acceptance Human Rights Award, 2017 Cosmopolitan magazine women of the year finalist, 2016 Women’s Weekly and Qantas Women of the Future finalist, 2016 AusMumpreneur Rising Star and Making a difference – non-profit Award, 2014 The Advertiser South Australia’s 50 most Influential Women, 2013 Madison Magazine Australia’s top 100 inspiring Women, 2013 Amnesty International Human Rights Activists to watch out in 2013, 2011 State Finalist Young Australian of the Year – just to name a few.

This event is open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKER

Charles Foster (Policy and Research Officer – Regional and Remote at Consumers of Mental Health WA (Inc.))

Topic

In this presentation we will offer an outline of the issues and proposed actions of the Out of Sight, Out of Mind report, which considered the enduring inequities and barriers to access faced by people seeking mental health treatment or support in regional and remote Australia. In particular, we will draw out the critical importance of the place-based solutions championed by this research, underscoring that attending to these injustices will require more than simple quick fixes or technological innovations.

Through highlighting how these fundamental barriers to access have remained unaddressed time and time again, we will reflect upon the persistent cycle of identifying problems and producing reports that has unfortunately characterized responses to this issue thus far.

Finally, we will share our learnings about the importance of returning to those people who continue to experience and live amidst these unjust barriers, as a pathway to maintain momentum and hope in the face of a system that would rather look away.

About the speaker

Charles Foster works at Consumers of Mental Health WA as a Policy and Research Officer focusing on Regional and Remote issues.  He has worked in systemic advocacy since 2023 after leaving a casual teaching position in academia.

His previous research has focused on using Phenomenology to explore the limitations of conceptualising the mental health and human experience through biomedical models.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKER

Dr. Anna Ross (NHMRC Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne)

Topic

The media is a key source of information about mental illness. However, people living with complex mental illness, such as psychosis and schizophrenia, are most commonly portrayed in relation to violence, which negatively influences public beliefs about dangerousness and unpredictability and increases stigma.

This seminar will give an overview of the research we are undertaking to address media-based stigma. We will explore recent examples of media portrayals of mental illness, and the role we can all play in challenging stigma in the community. You will also be invited to reflect on your experiences of media portrayals of mental illness, both the ‘good’ and ‘not-so-good’.

About the speaker

Dr. Anna Ross is an NHMRC Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne where her research aims to reduce stigma towards people with complex mental illness through improved media reporting. She completed her PhD within the Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health. Anna is leading research collaborations with Everymind’s Mindframe program and SANE Australia’s StigmaWatch program on improving news media representations of people living with complex mental health issues.

Anna’s background is in psychology, where she has completed a Masters of Clinical Psychology and worked clinically in adolescent mental health. She has over 10 years experience in mental health research, with her research focusing on reducing stigma and discrimination towards people with mental illness, development of mental health first aid guidelines and evaluation of courses, and evaluation of suicide prevention programs.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKERS

Andrea Vancia, Cultural Diversity Program Manager (Brisbane South PHN) & Michelle Ravesi, Access, Equity and Engagement Lead (NWMPHN)

Topic

There are 31 Primary Health Network (PHN) regions in Australia all with different populations, contexts and ways of working.  The PHN Multicultural Health Framework was launched in February 2024 to provide high-level guidance and best practices for PHNs in order to improve health system access and equity for multicultural communities across all PHN regions.

While this tool is specifically for PHNs, it has a strong focus on collaboration across the health system and other sectors and so this is an important opportunity to learn about the Framework and how you can work alongside your local PHN to improve health and wellbeing outcomes and experiences for multicultural communities in your region.

This session will:

•             provide an overview of the PHN Multicultural Health Framework

•             showcase PHN activities aligning with Framework action areas.

About the speakers

Andrea Vancia is the Cultural Diversity Program Manager at the Brisbane South PHN. She has completed studies in nursing, public health and health promotion. She has experience in nursing, research, international aid work and project management. For the past 15 years she has managed various projects in primary care at a Division of General Practice, Medicare Local and Primary Health Network, with the past 10 years focused on multicultural health. Andrea coordinates the National PHN Cultural Diversity Community of Practice and the PHN Multicultural Health Strategic Group. Andrea is a passionate advocate for improving systems to ensure they are equitable for multicultural communities.

Michelle Ravesi is the newly appointed Access, Equity and Engagement Lead with NWMPHN beginning at the start of 2024.  She has qualifications in Community Development and Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD), with over 20 years’ experience of working in public health.  Michelle began her career working in the AOD sector and chronic disease in both the hospital and community settings.  For the past 13 years Michelle has worked in Health Promotion and Population Health at Monash Health and for the last 5 at Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS).  At Monash Health she was the Manager of Population Health and the Aboriginal Health Service.  At LCHS she managed Prevention and Partnerships and continued her passion and involvement with First Nations People through convening the RAP committee. Through these roles she has had extensive experience working and engaging with Asylum Seekers and Refugees, CALD communities, First Nations peoples and hardly reached people in the community.  Michelle is passionate about ensuring all communities have equitable and easy access to high quality, culturally appropriate health services.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKER

Simon Katterl (mental health advocate and consultant)

Topic

In May 2022, the Department of Health commissioned advice to the Minister for Mental Health on how their government could formally acknowledge harms in the mental health system. The resulting report entitled, “Not before Time, Lived Experience-Led Justice and Repair” contains discussions of significant traumas and gross human rights violations.

Working together with VTMH in this seminar, the co-author of this report, Simon, provides expert insights into the Lived and Living Experience-led justice and repair process as recommended throughout the report.

Simon Katterl

Simon is a mental health advocate and consultant that advises governments, mental health and legal services on human rights, mental health, co-design and regulation. In addition to his studies in law, politics, psychology and regulation, Simon has lived experience of mental health issues and works from this perspective.

Simon previously worked at and advised mental health, human rights, regulatory and legal organisations.

Simon’s research focuses on various aspects of mental health and human rights, including regulating closed environments and the use of compulsory treatment, restorative justice and reparations for human rights breaches, mental health stigma and vilification laws, as well as regulation of digital mental health technologies. He has also written on the workplace rights of the mental health consumer workforce. Simon also publishes work in the Age, the Guardian and other popular outlets.

In 2022, Simon was commissioned by the Department of Health to advise the Minister for Mental Health on what would become the “Not Before Time” report.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKER

Prof. Tom Clark, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities (Victoria University)

Topic

In 2021, Victoria University (VU), Wyndham City Council (WCC) and Wyndham Community and Education Centre (Wyndham CEC) jointly launched a new local support network. This network was the first of its kind in Australia, set up in close collaboration with communities to offer alternative community-based reporting pathways and support services for people who have experienced racism. Since that time, numerous other agencies have partnered with VU to co-design similar community-led mechanisms for responding to racism on a municipal scale.

This presentation has two main aims. First, it explains the projects that we have contributed to, detailing the work accomplished by communities and the issues encountered there. Second, it offers a practical discussion about how similar anti-racism support networks and services can be developed and implemented, in close collaboration with local communities and other stakeholders, in municipalities across Victoria and beyond – led by municipal councils or other key local organisations.

About the speaker

Prof. Tom Clark

Tom Clark is a professor at Victoria University, Melbourne. He researches and teaches in public and political communication. He has collaborated with Mario Peucker at Victoria University and others to sustain the ‘Community-led Responses to Racism’ research program through numerous projects since its inception, always co-designed with community stakeholders.

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.

SPEAKERS

Prof. Michael Olasoji (Federation University & Alfred Mental & Addiction Health)
Erin Joyce (Alfred Mental & Addiction Health)

Topic

As acknowledged during the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, access to equitable and culturally safe mental health services for people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds remains problematic due to a variety of factors. There is limited published work that has examined the role of bicultural workers (BCWs) within mental health settings.

The overall aim of this joint research study is to explore the role and benefits of engaging Bicultural Workers in the delivery of mental health care within acute and community based mental health services.

This presentation will introduce attendees to the project and learn about its findings to date. Victoria’s new Mental Health and Wellbeing Act includes diversity and cultural safety principles aimed at improving access to equitable and culturally safe and responsive mental health care for all Victorians. It is hoped this research will contribute to the discourse in this space.

About the speakers

Prof. Michael Olasoji

Professor Michael Olasoji is a Professor of Mental Health Nursing at Federation University and the Research Lead at Alfred Mental and Addiction Health. He has worked across various mental health settings for a number of years and has also worked within academia. His research focuses mainly on exploring better outcomes for consumers with lived experience. 

Erin Joyce

Erin Joyce is a Social Worker and Community Development Practitioner and currently holds the role of Senior Advisor, Diversity and Inclusion at Alfred Mental and Addiction Health. Her career spans the fields of human rights, international development and mental health and psychosocial support and has seen her work in many cross-cultural environments in Australia and abroad.

Eligibility

VTMH seminars are open to individuals, from all disciplines and working in all sectors, who are based in Australia and interested in diversity and mental health.  

Please note, Trybooking is no longer supported by Internet Explorer so you will have to use another web browser such as Google Chrome, in order to make your booking.