Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697644974089.pdf (Australia)
Committee Secretary Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600 Re: Submission to the Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Dear Committee Manager, The Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) is a Victorian not-for-profit organisation supporting young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to build better lives in Australia.
Our vision is that young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds are connected, empowered and influential.

We draw on our experience of working with young people and communities from refugee and migrant backgrounds in Victoria for over 30 years.

The Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) MYAN is the national peak body representing the rights and interests of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds in Australia, and those who work with them.
Our vision is that all young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds are supported, valued and thriving in Australia.

MYAN provides expert policy advice, undertakes a range of sector development activities, and supports young people to develop leadership skills.

CMY and MYAN are pleased to respond to the House Select Committee’s Inquiry into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
We would particularly like to provide input around the need for stronger data, research and evidence; promoting wellbeing and resilience; community engagement and cultural responsiveness; and improving mental health literacy and reducing stigma.

CMY and MYAN would encourage the Committee to refer to our recent submissions and policy papers in the area of mental health, suicide prevention and young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
These include:  CMY submission to the Royal Commission into Mental Health in Victoria  MYAN and CMY's submission to the Productivity Commission on the economic and social benefits of improving mental health  Orygen and CMY policy paper: Responding together - Multicultural young people and their mental health 304 Drummond St, Carlton VIC 3054 T (03) 9340 3700  F (03) 9349 3766  ABN 82 127 444 713 info@cmy.net.au  cmy.net.au Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146 CMY and MYAN’s submission to the Select Committee into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - 2021 Overview A productive, healthy society is one where all young people experience wellbeing, and have access to appropriate mental health services and support when they need it.
However young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds in Australia face significant obstacles to getting the help they need.

The COVID-19 crisis has also exacerbated many of the factors that contribute to ill-mental health, including experiences of racism.

1 Addressing racism and supporting social inclusion is critical to protecting young people’s mental wellbeing.
In addition, mental health services continue to be underutilised by young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds despite many of them experiencing particular vulnerabilities to mental ill-health.

The current mental health system is not perceived or experienced by many young people as culturally relevant or safe, and is failing to meet them where they are at.
This requires:  Improved data collection, research and evaluation related to mental health and suicide;  Proactively supporting the mental wellbeing of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds, and the address of social determinants that contribute to mental ill-health, including racism;  A culturally responsive mental health system – one that proactively engages, partners and co-designs o with multicultural young people, their families and communities o the services that work with these groups and is accountable to meeting the diverse needs of the community  Recurrent funding for mental health literacy with communities and young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds to reduce stigma.
We urge the Committee to consider: 1.

The need for better data, research and evidence Current mental health services data collection systems do not adequately capture data about the cultural and language diversity of service users from refugee and migrant backgrounds, their needs, outcomes or service utilisation experience.2 It is essential that data related to cultural and linguistic background is collected, and accessible, to inform service responses.
1 Biddle, N, Gray, M & Yung Lo, J (2020), The experience of Asian-Australians during the COVID-19 pandemic: Discrimination and wellbeing, Australian National University.

https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2020/11/The experience of Asian- Australians_during_the_COVID-19_pandemic.pdf 2 Mental Health in Multicultural Australia (2014).
2 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146 CMY and MYAN’s submission to the Select Committee into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - 2021 A lack of disaggregated statistical data on high-risk groups has also been identified as impacting upon the effectiveness of Australian youth suicide prevention approaches.3 While CMY and MYAN recognise that data collection on youth suicide is problematic, with the contributing issues well-documented,4 the collation of comprehensive information about those who die by suicide and their wider social circumstances is recognised as “a necessary prerequisite for guiding local decisions on suicide prevention planning and action.”5 Research synthesis has identified that having a positive sense of culture and identity is an important protective factor for young people’s overall wellbeing and mental health.6 While more research and data are needed to understand the particular risk and protective factors linked to suicidal behaviours for refugee and migrant young people, we do know that lower suicide risk is associated with strong connection to family, religion and traditional values.7 This highlights the importance of understanding and strengthening young people’s relationships with family, community and culture, as a central element to youth suicide strategies with refugee and migrant communities.
There is a strong need for research around evidence based response to effective suicide prevention for young people with a refugee and migrant background.8 2.
Promoting the mental wellbeing and resilience of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds Mental health is not only affected by socioeconomic, psychological and biological factors, but also by environmental factors such as discrimination and exclusion.9 Extensive research highlights a strong relationship between racism and negative health and wellbeing outcomes for young people, including depression, anxiety or psychological distress.10 A positive sense of self, cultural identity and belonging increases resilience, whereas alienation or marginalisation increases the risk of mental illness.11 Therefore, a broader, individual, community and societal approach to supporting young people from migrant and refugee background’s mental health should include:  Strengthening young people’s sense of belonging, social connectedness and opportunities for social and recreational participation; 3 The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011., 3.37 p. 30 4 Ibid, p. 12 5 Sutherland, G. Milner,A.
Dwyer, J. Bugeja, L. Woodward, A. Robinson, J.

& Perkis, J.

(2017).

Implementation and evaluation of the Victorian Suicide Register, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 42(3): 296-302.Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.12725 6 Renshaw L. (2019) A Positive Sense of Identity and Culture: Defining and measuring progress for children and young people in Australia - a literature and scoping review on developing better indicators.

Canberra: ARACY.
Canberra: ARACY.

7 Burvill, Armstrong & Carlson, 1983; Kliewer, 1991; McDonald & Steel, 1997; Morrell, Taylor, Slaytor & Ford, 1999 cited in Mental Health in Multicultural Australia, (2014), Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia: Introductory Guide.

Mt Gravatt, MHiMA.

8 Orygen and the Centre for Multicultural Youth (2020), Responding together: Multicultural young people and their mental health.

Melbourne: Orygen.

9 WHO 10 VicHealth.

(2014).


Racism and its links to the health of children and young people, Carlton: VicHealth.

11 Commonwealth of Australia (2010) cited in CMY (2014), Mind Matters: The Mental health and Wellbeing of Young People from Diverse Cultural Backgrounds, Carlton, Centre for Multicultural Youth.
3 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146 CMY and MYAN’s submission to the Select Committee into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - 2021  Creating meaningful and supportive opportunities in education and employment; and  Addressing racism and discrimination.12 3.
A mental health system that is culturally responsive and engages with the community A culturally responsive mental health system would be one that is committed and accountable to engaging with young people and communities, including:  Staff professional development and transcultural approaches  Building a multicultural workforce  Expanding interpreter services  Building trust and engagement with young people, families and communities from multicultural backgrounds, and partnerships with the services they have trusting relationships with.13 Youth mental health services also need to be more flexible and adaptable, to proactively engage with young people and local communities.
They need to adopt youth-centred, culturally relevant ways of engaging with young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Outreach models that ‘go to where young people are’ (such as schools or co-location in migrant youth services) are critical, as are approaches that use recreational activity as a point of engagement rather than expecting young people to attend settings that are overly clinical or formal.14 Given the centrality of trust and relationship building as key to improving access, youth mental health services must work closely with services or groups that have well-established relationships with young people from migrant and refugee communities.
4.

Addressing stigma and strengthening mental health literacy with young people and multicultural communities Reducing stigma around mental health is a fundamental priority for young people and communities from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds on the issue of mental health identify that stigma, shame, intergenerational conflict and fear of burdening parents/family creates barriers to service access and help seeking.15 Mental health literacy, and attempts to de-stigmatise help seeking, must be proactive, collaborative, and holistic, and co-designed.

16 Increasing mental health literacy in order to reduce stigma and 12 CMY (2014).
13 Orygen and the Centre for Multicultural Youth (2020), Responding together: Multicultural young people and their mental health.

Melbourne: Orygen.

14 Ibid.

15 CMY.

(2019 - unpublished).

Internal report - Designing youth mental health services and programs for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

16 CMY, VFST, Royal Children’s Hospital & Centre for International Mental Health (Melbourne University) (2010).
Young People of Refugee Backgrounds share their thoughts on mental health issues and services.
Retrieved from http://refugeehealthnetwork.org.au/young-people- 4 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146 CMY and MYAN’s submission to the Select Committee into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - 2021 promote help seeking should be culturally tailored, given this creates better outcomes and service access than generic approaches.17 Young people have long advocated for collective means of working with young people, families, communities and community/religious leaders to educate and decrease stigma associated with seeking help for mental wellbeing.18 Youth and community peer work – people who can bridge both Westernised approaches to mental health, and who have knowledge and understanding of cultural perspectives – are an untapped resource in terms of reducing stigma and increasing mental health literacy.
CMY is currently piloting a youth mental health literacy project - Reverb – as an example of a co- designed approach.

Recommendations: 1.

Improve data collection, evaluation and research with regards to mental health and suicide prevention for young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds – including gathering country of birth, cultural background, visa status, language spoken at home and parents’ country of birth.

2.
2.

Promote the mental health and wellbeing of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds through significant investment in accessible sports, recreation, arts, youth support, leadership development and employment – opportunities that strengthen young people’s connections, social capital, ability to access support, and increase a sense of belonging.

3.
3.

Strengthen the Australian government’s commitment to tackling racism and discrimination, through adopting and resourcing the Australian Human Rights’ Commission proposal for a National Anti-Racism Framework.

Invest in co-designed youth suicide prevention programs that specifically target communities from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

4.

5.
4.

5.

Establish national bench marks and accountability mechanisms for the implementation of cultural responsiveness in mental health services, including: • workforce training; • whole-of-organisation structures and support for cultural responsiveness practice; • community engagement and proactive partnerships; and • evaluation of outcomes for and perceptions of young people.

6.

The federal government to create incentives, educational pathways and invest in a multicultural mental health workforce.
of-refugee-backgrounds-share-their-throughts-on-mental-health-issues-and-services-a-roundtable-discussion-between-young-people- service-providers-victorian-government-representatives-an/ 17 Mental Health in Multicultural Australia (2014).

Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia: Introductory Guide.

Mt Gravatt, MHiMA.

18 CMY, et al., (2010).


5 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146 CMY and MYAN’s submission to the Select Committee into Mental Health and Suicide Prevention - 2021 7.

Resource recurrent, co-designed mental health literacy programs with young people and communities from migrant and refugee backgrounds to reduce stigma and promote help- seeking.

Should you require further information or clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards Carmel Guerra OAM CEO – Centre for Multicultural Youth Nadine Liddy National Manager – Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network 6 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 146