MHIMA - FRAMEWORK FOR MENTAL HEALTH IN MULTICULTURAL AUSTRALIA: TOWARDS CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE SERVICE DELIVERY

ORGANISATIONS - IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE - Promotion, prevention and early intervention

Mental health promotion and prevention strategies for CALD people should primarily aim to reduce stigma and increase mental health literacy. It is also important to design multicultural mental health promotion and prevention initiatives that focus on the key determinants impacting on CALD communities, and ensure culturally tailored approaches.The overarching goal is to:

Promote mental health and well-being
Prevent mental illness
Provide culturally appropriate early intervention
Provide culturally responsive mental health care.

To do this, specific attention must be given to the social contexts impacting on mental health in CALD communities, and also the cultural beliefs and values relating to mental health within individuals, groups and communities.

Many of the risk and protective factors for mental health problems in CALD people occur in the daily lives of individuals and communities. These need to be tackled by building strong partnerships between mental health services, and multicultural sector organisations and diverse communities.

Evidence shows that unsuccessful approaches are those which implement standardised mental health promotion and prevention programs where CALD populations have to conform to receive services

More successful approaches are those which are able to:

Fully integrate diverse beliefs, perspectives and values of mental health of the CALD group being targeted to underpin the content and delivery of the program
Be delivered collaboratively; where agencies and groups from the multicultural sector and sectors impacting on mental health and well-being of CALD communities (such as health, education, employment, housing, immigration, and justice) work together to collectively develop a culture of inclusion.

These approaches will ensure that Australian mental health promotion and prevention programs reflect and harness the benefits of the great cultural and linguistic diversity of the Australian population for everyone.

KEY OUTCOME AREA 3: PROMOTION, PREVENTION & EARLY INTERVENTION

Increased mental health awareness, knowledge and capacity in CALD communities via culturally inclusive promotion, prevention & early intervention initiatives

Outcome Indicator 3.1 Improved access to culturally appropriate suicide prevention support, care, services, resources and information for CALD consumers and carers

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the importance for CALD consumers and carers to be able to access culturally tailored support strategies and suicide prevention services.		NSMHS: 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.5, 5.6
Developing	The organisation has mechanisms in place for CALD consumers and carers to access culturally appropriate suicide prevention services and resources.
Advanced	The organisation routinely reviews and improves mechanisms in place to support CALD consumers and carers to access culturally appropriate suicide prevention resources, support and services.

Outcome Indicator 3.2 Improved suicide prevention approaches to at risk CALD groups, including CALD older people, refugees, women carers, children and young people

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation is aware of the higher risk of suicide among specific CALD population groups such as older people.		NSMHS: 5
Developing	The organisation develops targeted strategies to engage with CALD groups at higher risk of suicide.
Advanced	The organisation routinely reviews and improves their strategies to engage with CALD groups at higher risk of suicide.

Outcome Indicator 3.3 Strengthened evidence base about CALD suicide prevention initiatives

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the importance of evaluation and data collection regarding suicide prevention initiatives implemented with CALD consumers and carers in the catchment area.
Developing	The organisation has processes and strategies to evaluate and collect data of CALD mental health delivery regarding suicide prevention.
Advanced	The organisation routinely evaluates and collects data regarding suicide prevention initiatives with CALD consumers and carers in the area and has processes in place to regularly review and improve the local research evidence base.

Outcome Indicator 3.4 Improved community outreach with CALD priority groups: older people; women; refugees; carers; children and young people

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation gathers and analyses demographic data in order to determine which CALD communities are represented in the area and which groups have the highest needs.		NSMHS: 4
Developing	The organisation develops a CALD community outreach plan targeting those community groups most in need.
Advanced	The organisation routinely conducts, evaluates and improves outreach activities with identified CALD priority groups.

Outcome Indicator 3.5 Increased number of CALD specific stigma reduction and mental health literacy programs and Mental Health First Aid delivered

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the importance of stigma reduction activities including the improvement of mental health literacy in CALD communities.		NSMHS: 4
Developing	The organisation has processes in place to improve mental health stigma reduction activities in CALD communities such as culturally tailoring mental health literacy and Mental Health First Aid training.
Advanced	The organisation routinely culturally tailors and evaluates and improves stigma reduction activities for CALD communities such as mental health literacy and mental health First Aid.

Outcome Indicator 3.6 Increased integration of CALD perspectives into mainstream stigma reduction initiatives

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the importance of integrating CALD perspectives into mainstream stigma reduction activities and initiatives.		NSMHS: 4
Developing	The organisation has processes in place to integrate CALD perspectives into mainstream stigma reduction initiatives.
Advanced	The organisation routinely integrates and evaluates and improves the effectiveness of the integration strategies of CALD stigma reduction activities.

Outcome Indicator 3.7 Improved CALD community capacity building and engagement

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the need for improved community capacity building and engagement in CALD communities to be able to reduce stigma and increase understanding of mental health and mental health services.		NSMHS: 5
Developing	The organisation engages in capacity building and engagement activities in CALD communities.
Advanced	The organisation routinely engages with CALD communities and reviews and improves its capacity building and engagement activities in CALD communities.

Outcome Indicator 3.8 Improved social participation of CALD people with mental illness

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the importance of improving the social participation of CALD people with mental illness in order to reduce isolation and improve their well-being.		NSMHS: 5
Developing	The organisation has culturally tailored mechanisms in place to improve the social participation of CALD consumers.
Advanced	The organisation routinely reviews and improves its processes to improve culturally tailored mechanisms to facilitate the social participation of CALD consumers.

Outcome Indicator 3.9 Improved economic participation of CALD mental health consumers

Level	Strategy	Good Practice Examples	Referencing
Entry	The organisation accepts and respects the need for and importance of improving the economic participation of CALD consumers.
Developing	The organisation has specific mechanisms in place to improve the economic participation of CALD consumers.
Advanced	The organisation routinely reviews and improves their processes to improve the economic participation of CALD consumers.