In this November issue:

• Multilingual resources - including COVID safe information for seasonal farm work
• New Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) inquiry - submissions open and roundtable planned
• New mental health services: accessible for people of refugee backgrounds 
• New report - Early Childhood Engagement of CALD communities 
• COVID safe comics for young people from CALD backgrounds 

In case you missed it....

We have published a series of e-Bulletins focused on COVID-19 related information and resources. You can view previous e-Bulletin editions here, or visit our website's COVID-19 Information and Resources page to see a collection of many of our previously circulated resources. If you are not already subscribed to our e-Bulletin, please subscribe here. 

 Multilingual COVID-19 resources 

Health information for CALD and refugee communities

The Water Well Project is a health promotion charity which aims to improve the health literacy of communities from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker background. Made up of over 650 healthcare professional volunteers, Water Well are hoping to continue to connect with CALD communities during this time to ensure that CALD communities are receiving timely (and tailored) information about coronavirus, as well as other related health topics. Commonly requested topics are outlined on their website.

The Water Well Project is expanding their online health education sessions. These sessions are free of charge to the community, and utilise external TIS interpreters where required. Anyone connected with CALD communities please get in touch with Water Well with any questions or, to book a session projectadmin@thewaterwellproject.org. 

New Brief: Communicating about COVID-19

Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV) has released an issue brief considering the role of health literacy and language services for people of Cultural and Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALD) during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can read the brief and recommendations here. 

Mental Health Support 

Head to Help is a a new mental health support service in Victoria, delivered by the Primary Health Networks. Head to Help can be accessed by the central number 1800 595 212, where clients and referrers will be connected with a local hub. There are no eligibility restrictions (clients do not require Medicare or permanent residency), and interpreters are available. For more information please see their website. 

Suicide Line Victoria Mental health support services offer single session counselling, multi session counselling and case Management. Interpreters are available. For more information, visit their website. 

 Research, news and events

New report: Early childhood engagement of culturally and linguistically diverse communities 

Several strong recommendations made for children and families of refugee backgrounds made in recent report: A report into early childhood engagement by culturally diverse families has made 49 recommendations aimed at improving access to and connections with early childhood services in Victoria. Presented to Parliament by the Legislative Assembly Legal and Social Issues Committee, the report addresses current barriers that culturally diverse families face, such as accessing early childhood services, language and communication barriers, costs, limited awareness of services and their benefits, discrimination.  See the Victorian Refugee Health Network's submission to the inquiry here. 

Victorian Law Reform Commission Inquiry - opportunity to contribute

The Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) is conducting an inquiry examining how to improve the response of the justice system to sexual offences. The inquiry would like to understand how other systems and services (including health services) interact with specialist sexual assault services and the justice system. The inquiry is interested in hearing from services who work with refugee and migrant communities.  If you work in refugee health and would like to share your experiences of interacting with the justice system or specialist sexual assault services, you can either contribute a submission by the 23rd of December, or if you would like to participate in a sector roundtable contact the Network ASAP at info@refugeehealthnetwork.org.au. 

Refugee Council of Australia Federal Budget Analysis 

Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) has provided an analysis of what last month's Federal Budget means for refugees and people seeking humanitarian protection. See here for the full summary. 

Digital inclusion 

National Digital Inclusion Roadmap: Australia is digitising, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the pace of every-day activities moving online. It is becoming increasingly critical that all Australians are digitally included so they can participate in all aspects of society and have the skills to complete tasks confidently and safely. This position paper – A National Digital Inclusion Roadmap – outlines what should be done to increase digital inclusion in Australia. Accessible versions available. 

New policy brief - Telehealth for more equitable access to care in regional areas

Pushing the boundaries: using telehealth to improve regional access and care is a Centre for Community Child Health (CCCH) Policy Brief focuses on telehealth and the opportunity to use existing services more effectively to embed paediatric expertise in regional primary care. It has the potential to enhance the skills of clinicians and practitioners, provide more effective and timelier care that better meets the needs of children and families, and improve access for those who need it most.

Reminder: Murdoch Children's Research Institute - research open 

What is it like providing care to families in the COVID-19 pandemic?  If you are a health or social care professional working with families in the perinatal period and working in the North West areas of Melbourne, please consider taking part in this research. The project is also recruiting refugee background parents from the several cultural and language groups living in the NWPHN catchment area who, since the beginning of the pandemic, have received pregnancy and/or early child healthcare. For more information, see here.  

Reminder: STIs and BBVs knowledge in migrant populations research 

The Victorian state government is supporting a national research partnership project to better understand Blood Borne Virus and Sexually Transmitted Infection knowledge amongst people born in Sub Saharan Africa, South East Asia or North East Asia.  Please click on the links below to find out more. 

The English survey will also be translated into the following five languages later in the year (Traditional Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Karen and Khmer), with simplified Chinese to follow. Find more information on the website here. 

• Study blurb (English) 
• Study recruitment flyer
• Survey hard copy (English)
• Survey email link for online completion 

Training and Professional Development

The Centre for Cultural Ethnicity and Health has two upcoming free webinars this November:

• Practical Strategies to Reduce your unconscious bias Tue, November 10, 2020 12:00 PM – 12:30 PM AEDT
• Hepatitis B Made Easy Thu, November 19, 2020 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM AEDT
• You can find past CEH webinar recordings here. 

The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture (Foundation House) is now delivering their learning and development calendar online, via Zoom. Upcoming workshops in November and December include:

• School's in for Refugees: Thu, 19 Nov 09:30 AM - Thu, 19 Nov 03:30 PM in online (free)

• Seeking Asylum: Working with Prolonged Uncertainty Tue, 24 Nov 09:30 AM - Tue, 24 Nov 03:30 PM in online

• Supporting Children and Families of Refugee Backgrounds in the Early Years Wed, 25 Nov 04:00 PM - Wed, 25 Nov 06:00 PM in online (free)

• Intensive Introduction for Nurses and Allied Health Professionals - Thu, 26 Nov 09:30 AM - Fri, 27 Nov 02:30 PM in online

Victorian Transcultural Mental Health (VTMH) - November Seminar 

Topic: Black Lives Matter movement: A call to action for community services to examine organisational whiteness to achieve racial equity. Wednesday 18th of November 3 - 4pm.  Register here. 

VICSEG New Futures - Free Course in identifying and responding to family violence risk

COVID has exacerbated the causes and conditions for increased family violence. In response to this growing need, the Victorian Government has introduced a new Course in identifying and responding to family violence risk (22510VIC). This course is designed to support professionals working in the community including allied health, higher education, childcare, justice, sport and recreation organisations, faith-based institutions, community workers, and CALD community leaders.

• The course is FREE!
• The course is delivered online and includes 3 virtual sessions (4hrs each)
• Three groups with dates scheduled to start and more to come.
  For upcoming dates please click HERE
  For enquires contact James O’Brien at nft@vicsegnewfutures.org.au  

About the Victorian Refugee Health Network

The Victorian Refugee Health Network brings together health, settlement and community services to be more accessible and responsive to the needs of people from refugee backgrounds, including people seeking asylum. The e-Bulletin provides a regular forum to share news, resources and information to support practitioners and services in providing health care to people from refugee backgrounds.

Connect

You can contact the Victorian Refugee Health Network secretariat at info@refugeehealthnetwork.org.au. You can subscribe to the e-Bulletin here.