Mental Health Month, October 2011

Mental Health Month is part of a national mental health promotion program campaign held in October each year. MHM is an opportunity to increase awareness and to promote mental health and wellbeing for all people including culturally and linguistically diverse communities (CALD).

The Transcultural Mental Health Centre, in partnership with the Mental Health Association and other organisations, has organised a number of community events for this year's Mental Health Month. Details of events are available in the Mental Health e-Booklet.

New Translated Resources

The Transcultural Mental Health Centre has partnered with the Mental Health Association (MHA) NSW to translate a new factsheet into 10 community languages for Mental Health Month 2011.

Wellbeing: Invest in Your Life Arabic, English, French, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese, Vietnamese

Small Grants Program 2011

The Transcultural Mental Health Centre (TMHC) in partnership with the Mental Health Association has provided a number of small grants to those organisations and community groups that specifically target culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

The TMHC along with the MHA would like to congratulate the following recipients of this years "Small Grants Program 2011":

$1 000 for the “Our Mental Health Matters” initiative and provided to the Youth Reach, St Vincent de Paul Society. The initiative targets 11-24 y.o. Pacific Islanders, Maoris and New Zealanders who access the youth centre.
$1 000 for the “Wellbeing Day-Celebrating Mental Health Month” initiative and provided to the South East Neighbourhood Centre. The initiative is tailored to educating diverse cultural groups on mental health issues and the available services they can access.
$500 for the “Tranquil Minds” initiative and provided to the Pathways Early Childhood Intervention Organisation. The initiative will provide parent to parent support and resources and information to Vietnamese families.
$500 for the “Community Garden Project” and provided to the Illawarra Multicultural Services. The initiative will see the launch of the community garden mural which is a project of the Macedonian Living Skills Group.
$500 for the “Food for Thought - Cultural Awareness & Wellbeing Festival” and provided to the Mental Health Carers ARAFMI NSW. The initiative will improve CALD students' understanding of mental health issues and mental health services.
$500 for the “Be Smart, Be Happy” Forum and provided to the Chinese Australian Services Co-op Ltd. The initiative will provide information on mental health and various aspects of mental wellbeing.
$400 for the “Stress Less Day” Forum and provided to the Deli Women & Children's Centre Inc. The initiative will provide women and families from diverse CALD backgrounds an opportunity to tap into communicty resources and allow them to develop their community networks thus reducing social isolation.

Mental Health Matters Awards

TMHC in partnership with the MHA has provided monies under the MHA "Mental Health Matters Awards" which are designed to recognise the achievements of individuals and organisations who have worked to improve understanding, awareness, service provision and the general mental health of our community, over the past 12 months (1 July 2010-30 June 2011).

In recognition of programs, projects or initiatives whose key aims are to improve the mental health and wellbeing of CALD communities. This year’s ($1 000) Mental Health Matters Award winner for Category 10: Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities is as follows:

Hunter Institute of Mental Health for the development of a resource and training package for the Multicultural Mental Health Australia (MMHA) organisation. The package prepares members of MMHA Speakers Bureau to be confident and media aware spokespersons.

Mental Health Month 2010

TMHC Highlights for Mental Health Month 2010

TMHC has organised a range of events and initiatives to celebrate this year's Mental Health Month. Key highlights include:

Families from the Horn of Africa - Wellbeing day: TMHC in collaboration with Horn of Africa Relief and Development Agency (HARDA) and STARTTS, has organised a half-day event in Auburn targeting families from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Djibouti and Uganda.
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Filipino radio program in Tamworth:
TMHC has partnered with Tamworth's 2YOUFM Community Radio to deliver a series of mental health and wellbeing information sessions in Tagalog.
Annual CHESS mental health art exhibition: supported by TRROP in Coffs Harbour (11-15 October).

Launch of translated resources: In partnership with the Mental Health Association NSW, TMHC has produced two resources Building Resilience and Good friends help us bounce back in ten community languages.

Macarthur Diversity Services: is hosting a mental health event targeted at pensioners and unemployed people on 28 October. THHC will conduct a public presentation on what mental health is and how it can affect your family and community.

Partnership Initiatives

In addition to these, the TMHC in partnership with the Mental Health Association NSW had developed a number of initiatives for MHM 2010. These include: