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Stepping Out of the Shadows - Reducing Stigma in Multicultural Communities
MMHA has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing to develop and implement a national mental health stigma reduction education program in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
The program uses a train-the-trainer model to train expert trainers from each state and territory who then train and support community trainers to deliver the stigma reduction education package directly to CALD communities.
Aims
The package aims to reduce the negative impact of stigma within CALD communities by exploring how individuals and communities can deal with stigma and mental health issues in practical ways. It is highly relevant to thesecommunities as it acknowledges and builds on the strengths, traditions and ways of thinking that already exist.
The education package can also be used creatively in various settings (for example, it can be used to bring CALD and mainstream populations together to build relationships and address stigma collaboratively; it can be part of senior's social group activities, a mothers club etc).
Stigma creates barriers to seeking help, early detection and negatively effects recovery rates and prognosis. It also isolates individuals and their families and reduces their capacity to participate in their communities and the broader society in meaningful and satisfying ways.
Although stigma about mental health and illness exists in all cultures around the world, people from CALD communities who experience mental health issues/illness face a double disadvantage. This means increased discrimination because someone has a mental illness and belongs to an ethnic community. This may result in those people having even less contact with and knowledge of the services and networks that are available for them.
This training package has been designed especially for CALD communities as:
- there is a lack of mental health promotion that is meaningful to people from CALD communities; and
- people from CALD backgrounds tend not to access mainstream mental health services as much as people from mainstream Australia do.
The training package was developed in partnership with the Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre after an initial pilot and after other training packages and literature were reviewed and consultations with key stakeholders were accepted.
The national training package is supported by the State and Territory Departments of Health and Human Services and the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.
The current training package was developed based on the evidence available on reducing stigma in CALD communities through:
- an initial pilot of the content
- a literature review, including a review of current academic theory and adult learning principles
- consultations with CALD communities; and
- input from CALD consumer and carer representatives and key workers in the transcultural mental health sector.
For more information contact Rajiv Ramanthan, telephone +61 2 9840 3333.
Last Updated: 26 May 2010
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