1. A brief history and background for the Centre for Migration and Refugee Health (CMRH)
The CMRH is a non-profitable and public health charity organization set up in 2019 to address social determinants of mental health care, other healthcare services, health policies and advocacy for socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, including migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities.
Historically, CMRH emerged because of continuing observations and conversations on the level of impact of mental illness on individuals and families from socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people. Many of this cohort come from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds posing issues of integration, social access to mental health and physical wellbeing. Community advocate groups have shared information on the worst effect of mental illness such as rampant su***de in the communities due to the difficulties of understanding the new environment, access to culturally appropriate mental health and other healthcare services. To effectively treat and provide social support services for people with mental illness and improve population mental health, it is only possible to have a good understanding of both risk and protective factors. Migrant, refugee and asylum seekers faced major psychological trauma before migration, and prolonged detention is terrible for mental health. Besides, access to decent housing, education, employment, other healthcare services with secure social and economic environment protect against mental illness and essential for recovery from mental illness.
Despite gaps in mental illness in healthcare services promotion, prevention, and treatment, CMRH positioned itself to establish the basis for a new direction and future success in providing access to mental healthcare services. CMRH adapts to utilizing a whole of a family approach focusing on mental illness prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation with culturally appropriate and sensitive mental health services in Victoria, Australia. Many of these migrants, refugees and other disadvantaged groups with mental illness who do not speak fluent English may or may not have access to an interpreter, and will generally not have access to psychotherapy, rehabilitation, and social support programs. Language and culture are essential everywhere, but nowhere more so than understanding mental illness and providing adequate health services. So, there was and continue to be a serious, culturally sensitive, and appropriate mental health and other healthcare services.
2. Context
The establishment of CMRH as an independent statutory non-profitable and charity public health agency aimed to address the social determinants of mental health, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation to individuals and families affected from migrant, refugee, and asylum seekers background communities. Overall, they are most affected by mental disorders and that cumulative stress and physical health services as mechanisms through which the impacts of social determinants multiply across the lifespan and many generations.
The CMRH believes that these groups faced mental health risk factors and social determinants that impact their lives, including healthcare systems, environment, political, economic factors, cultural norms, lifestyle changes and specific policies. They also meet daily challenges of trauma, post-trauma and supporting of their love ones who left behind in their countries of origin due to the social, economic, and political reasons. Mental health and social determinants impact both risks of disorder and access to services, and consequently improved outcomes. Thus, CMRH seeks to provide primary and secondary interventions, while utilizing universal primary health care access as a way for reducing the prevalence of mental health, inequalities and improve emotional wellbeing in individuals and population. We adapt Interventions that address social determinants and mental health cycle, given considerable evidence of the links between social determinants and mental health outcomes.
The CMRH services delivery concept grounded on the trust that everyone has rights to access healthcare services, and that everyone deserves the highest attainable standards of social, physical, and mental health.
We support better health policy, research and advocacy for multilevel interventions that improve and strengthen national strategies on mental health, employment services and decent housing. Besides, health policies that best focus on efforts of necessary preventive measures and promote health literacy.
3. CMRH Goal
The main goal of CMRH is to provide a conducive and healthy environment, equitable participation in the promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation from mental health and healthcare services to improve better health outcomes. Research, support, and advocate for the policies that eliminate systemic social inequalities such as access to housing, education, and employment opportunities to increase access to housing stability, community functioning, perceived wellbeing and quality of life, and increased self-esteem.
4. Main activities
The CMRH is a multidisciplinary statutory body with a broad experience in the challenges of migrant, refugee, asylum seekers and socially disadvantaged mental health, and social being. The CMRH has extensive established networks and partners in Victoria, as well as in Australia to ensure that issues of migration, migrant, refugee, and asylum seekers` health and healthcare are technically, culturally, and ethically managed in systematic approaches.
We collaborate with migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, health service providers, private and government agencies, or institutions. The CMRH and partners develop interventions that minimize health risk factors and promote protective factors, through evidence-based information and established databases and responses that promote better health and wellbeing of migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Victoria.
A. Our services
The CMRH services follow health domain areas:
Programs and projects
I. Employment supports
a. Career, Training and Mentoring
b. Individual Placement and Support (IPS) programs
B. Multicultural Integrated Social and Mental Healthcare services
The use of community health professionals for patient outreach to navigation and provide care management activities to improving patient engagement and treatment utilization in low-resource settings.
II. Communities That Care for Livelihood
a. Alcohol and other drugs (AOD)- substance use and abuse, including counselling, referral to
psychiatric services, Hepatitis C and B services.
b. Physical activities, Recreation, Social connectedness, and Support.
c. Education Support and Parental Relationship.
d. Nutrition Food Care Package and other essential materials Support
III. Allied Health and Care Support
a. Pharmacy Prescribing Support Services.
b. Diabetic Care, Education and Management Services.
c. Physiotherapy, osteopathy, optometry, oral health, and chiropractic.
d. Sexual and Reproductive Health
IV. Policy Research and Advocacy
a. Reduce Food Insecurity
b. Mental Health Policy
c. Employment services and working conditions (racism, discrimination, and exploitation).
d. Social Policies-targeting housing stability advancing Housing First programs.
e. Criminal justice system
i. Police and prosecution
ii. Rehabilitation of offenders
iii. Preventing other and moral support for victims of crime
Better health outcomes for all socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities.
The CMRH deploy existing health frameworks, monitoring and evaluation tools to achieve better health outcomes, including:
i. Human rights focus-promoting the health rights of all socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities in relevant areas of mental health and healthcare services.
ii. Culturally centred- considering cultural belief, sensitivity and provide needs for the respect for all individuals socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities.
iii. Coordinated care- using available resources to help socioeconomically disadvantaged, socially isolated, and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities through best evidence-based information.
iv. Safe care- provide a conducive environment free of prejudices and discrimination in health and healthcare services.
We demonstrated CMRH`s work in values in all that we do in Respect, Integrity, Equitable access, Excellence and Safety.
5. Linkages to the health policies and health workforce
CMRH supports mental health, healthcare and welfare policy based on evidence-based to advocates and improves wellbeing and health outcomes of socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities with various stakeholders in Victoria, Australia. We work with partners and stakeholders to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of the projects and programs.
CMRH utilizes its expertise addressing social determinants and mental health through Australians national mental health plan. The CMRH organizes and delivers culturally sensitive education for socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities’ courses on risk factors.
6. Vision
The vision for CMRH is to improve mental health outcomes, quality of health and social wellbeing.
7. Mission
To advocate for mental health services, research and support better health policies that seek to address the social determinants of mental disorders.
8. Our values
The CMRH values include:
a. Respect- for health rights of an individual migrant, refugee, and an asylum seeker with
consideration on their beliefs.
b. Integrity-works on strong ethical values, accountability, and transparency.
c. Equitable access-promote equal access to health services, including target populations.
d. Excellence-maintain high standards in all our work with a partner agency.
e. Safety – CMRH prioritizes safety for all migrant, refugee and asylum seekers wild living in Melbourne, Australia.
9. Objectives
The CMRH demonstrates it works on the Australian Safety and Quality Framework for Health Care that supports a vision for safe and high-quality care for all Australians and sets out the actions need to achieve this vision. Based on three core principles for safe and high-quality care that healthcare is consumer-centred, driven by information and organized for safety.
Provide community-based interventions that build community trust and safety, mitigate violence and crime to improve neighbourhood deprivation and lessen mental health inequalities.
Promote a community building/mobilization strategy aimed at reducing youth substance use, violence, and other problem behaviours community-wide through the utilization of stakeholder coalitions to increase the adoption of evidence-based prevention practices.
CMRH implement, monitor, and evaluate its activities to achieve wellbeing and better health outcomes for socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities based on the objectives as outlined. The CMRH provides interventions and best practices to promote health.
1. Promote health right of socioeconomic disadvantaged, socially isolated and vulnerable people, migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees’ backgrounds communities in Victoria, Australia to enjoy a high standard of social, physical, and mental health.
2. Provide education and training to build capacity, knowledge, prevention, treatment or intervention on mental health and its social determinants.
3. Support and advocate for the policies that address health inequity and inequality for migrant and refugee.
4. Promote gender-migrant-refugee and asylum seekers-sensitive health policies.
5. Support and advocate the continuity and quality of care for all migrant and refugee.
10. Organization structure
