Rural and Remote Outreach

The Transcultural Rural and Remote Outreach program is an access and equity initiative supported by the Transcultural Mental Health Centre (North Parramatta) and the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health (Orange). It is funded by a four-year grant from the NSW Health, Mental Health and Drug and Alcohol Office (2005 - 2009).

 The program seeks to develop robust and sustainable models and service delivery frameworks for rural and remote transcultural mental health by combining mainstream capacity and community development strategies with innovative methods of clinical service delivery. The program will operate in selected areas of the state in response to identified local need through new and existing partnership arrangements with government and non-government mental health and multicultural service providers.

 The program is informed by the current policy framework for diversity-aware mental health service provision and health care for rural, regional and remote communities. In consequence, five strategic directions have been set to guide the project's implementation -

• Enhance social inclusion of CALD populations
• Overcome barriers to access
• Ensure equity in service provision
• Ensure sustainability of the project's initiatives
• Extend the reach of existing TMHC projects/services

The program will be fully evaluated so as to contribute to the developing pool of knowledge about diversity-aware mental health service provision, particularly in non-metropolitan settings, with special emphasis on;

• Service development initiatives - strategies to assist rural, regional and remote mental health service providers to meet diversity-aware standards of practice and systems of operation
• Capacity building initiatives - strategies which empower CALD communities to engage in meaningful and successful ways with mental health service providers

Target Groups

People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communitiesacross the age spectrum who live outside metropolitan centres of NSW who experience mental health problems, and their service providers,  with particular reference to -

• the ageing population, refugees, survivors of torture and trauma 
• families and carers of CALD people with mental health problems
• principal service providers who provide direct services to people from CALD communities, their families and carers 
• government and non-government providers of cultural support services to people from CALD communities

For further information:

Michele Sapucci
Transcultural Rural and Remote Outreach Coordinator
Email: Michele Sapucci