Mental Health Week, 4-10 October 2009

 Mental Health Week (MHW) is part of a national mental health promotion program campaign held in early October each year. In 2009 MHW is being held 4-10 October 2009. MHW is an opportunity to increase awareness and to promote mental health and wellbeing for all people including culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. In New South Wales, the Transcultural Mental Health Centre (TMHC) has planned a number of diverse initiatives (see the "Sign up, link in, get involved"! E-Booklet) around this year's theme of "Building Resilience" with a special focus to "Sign up, link in, get involved".

TMHC Highlights for MWH '09

Some of the TMHC highlights for MHW 09 include:

• Cross-cultural workshops for General Practitioners
• A workshop on suicide prevention in different cultures (as part of 2009 World Suicide Prevention Day)
• TranSCRIBE -2009 Young Writers Competition Award Ceremony and Launch of the booklet of winning entries, ANZ Stadium
• Moderated on line Diversit-E Forums
• Targeted state-wide distribution of multilingual mental health information
• Participation in the Multicultural Mental Health Carers Information Day

Partnership Initiatives

In addition to these, the TMHC in partnership with the Mental Health Association (MHA) of NSW has developed a number of initiatives for MHW 09. These include:

• Translation of 2 new multilingual fact sheets in English and 10 community languages;

Mental Health Week - Sign up, link in, get involved (Arabic; Chinese; English, Greek; Hindi; Italian; Khmer; Korean; Somali; Spanish and Vietnamese).

Building Resilience Fact Sheet (Arabic; Chinese; English, Greek; Hindi; Italian; Khmer; Korean; Somali; Spanish and Vietnamese).

• TMHC sponsored CALD Communities Award Category under the MHA "Mental Health Matters" Awards. This award recognises programs, projects or initiatives, planned and implemented by individuals or organisations whose key aims are to improve the mental health and wellbeing of CALD communities in NSW.
• TMHC sponsored CALD category under the MHA "Small Grants Program 2009". Organisations or community groups are awarded these small grants if they can clearly tie their project or activity to the theme for MHW 09 - "Building Resilience - Sign up, link in, get involved" and whose initiatives specifically target CALD communities in NSW. Awarded in 2009 to South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health Area Mental Health and Multicultural Health Services.
• TMHC worked with the Diversity Health Institute, the World Federation for Mental Health and partners in various countries to produce a resource "Mental Health in Primary Care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health." The resource is available in Arabic, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), English, French, Hindi, Japanese, Russian and Spanish from the World Federation for Mental Health website.

Community Promotions

As part of core business, TMHC participates in ongoing community promotions such as community fairs, expos and cultural events including MHW. For instance:

• In Coffs Harbour the TMHC will be working together with local key stakeholders to showcase the range of services and resources available at a Community Expo.
• In Tamworth the TMHC will be distributing mental health information and resources to a number of local libraries as part of the New England Area Health Services Mental Health Promotion "Access to Mental Health Information" Project.
• The TMHC will be participating in the "Stress Less Festival" at Tamworth Community Centre.

To find out more about these initiatives and how you can get involved click on the E-booklet of TMHC Initiatives for MHW09 and "Sign up, link in, get involved"!!!

Last Updated: 14 Oct 2009