About us

A public health leadership seeking better mental health and wellbeing for migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers

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WHY WE ARE HERE

Our goal is to provide mental health education and practical and clinical solutions that facilitate equitable participation in healthcare services to improve your mental health outcomes and quality of life. We determine excellent treatment or intervention over the phone, online or in-office appointments to help with referrals for you or your loved ones to culturally safe, appropriate and specific mental healthcare services.

The Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health (CMRH) is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2019 with a public health focus to improve mental health and well-being for Australian migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community backgrounds. We achieve our work by offering integrated mental healthcare services, both clinical and practical solutions. We utilise research, policy and advocacy to address definitive social determinants of health, including inequities and inequalities that create social isolation and vulnerability that impact and compound poor mental health outcomes.

The implications of poor mental health outcomes are also directly linked to chronic diseases and injuries that continue to remain an issue and exacerbate low-quality health outcomes.

Many significant associations exist between mental illness, chronic diseases, and injury. Individuals with chronic conditions such as sickle cell disease, diabetes and cancers, to mention a few, have an increased risk of mental illness. Injuries, both intentional, such as homicide and suicide and unintentional, for instance, motor vehicle accidents, are 2-6 times higher for persons with a history of mental illness than those without past experiences.

Our Mission

Advance public health leadership with a unified national voice in addressing mental illness and related social determinants of health to achieve better health outcomes and quality of life through mental health promotion, clinical and practical solutions through codesign, research, policy, and advocacy.

Our Values

CMRH principles and values are set with core beliefs that guide centre actions, operation and coordination with the stakeholders and partners inside and outside CMRH.

Our Objective

We aim to provide access to carers, parents, families, and young people at risk of mental illness to culturally safe, appropriate interventions and specific mental healthcare services that minimise hospital admissions and readmission.

Our Vision

Seeks a network of collaborative and sustained mental health education, and campaign awareness efforts to improve access to culturally safe, appropriate, and specific mental health and healthcare services for socially isolated, vulnerable, and low socioeconomic carers, parents, families, and young people.

Our ambition targets and priorities are tailored to drive a safe social environment and change that help with the mental health and wellbeing of the refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers in Australia. The issues affecting this population do not only need humanitarian conciliation but also taping in their past experiences, providing equal opportunity and building capacity to unleash their potential.

Mr Mabor Chadhuol
Founder, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CMRH

OUR MISSION

In pursuit of our mission, we strive to:

be a national centre for excellence in mental health education, and campaign awareness for new and emerging communities, including CALD, migrant, asylum seekers and refugee backgrounds in Victoria, Australia.
provide capacity building for carers, parents, families, and young people to identify early warning signs of mental illness and issues and subsequently provide interventions that facilitate recovery, support, and improve resilience for the affected individuals.
utilise a multidisciplinary approach to support mental health policies, advocate, and bring about change in mental health and quality of life outcomes through research translation.
be financially sustainable through soliciting funding from the government, non-governmental, and philanthropic to be able to implement its goals and objectives.

OUR VALUES

CMRH principles and values are set with core beliefs that guide centre actions, operation and coordination with the stakeholders and partners inside and outside of CMRH.

RESPECT

For health rights of an individual migrant, refugee, and an asylum seeker with consideration on their beliefs and religious practices.

EQUITABLE ACCESS

Promote equitable access to mental healthcare services with cultural appropriateness.

SAFETY

Prioritisation of safety and care for all CALD communities, including migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

INTEGRITY

Works on strong ethical values, accountability, and transparency.

EXCELLENCE

Maintain high standards in all our work with partner agencies and stakeholders.

OUR OBJECTIVES

We do this through best practices that:

promote health rights of people most susceptible to mental illness in Australia to enjoy a high standard of social, physical, and mental health
provide education, campaign awareness, research, information sharing, policy development, advocacy, and support
provide capacity building, knowledge and inform the community on prevention, treatment strategies or intervention on mental health and social determinants
support and advocate for the policies that address health inequity and inequality
support and advocate the continuity and quality of care for all migrant, refugee and asylum seekers backgrounds.

STRATEGIC LINKAGE

Mental health is a fundamental component of health and crucial to recognise its impact on our society. Lack of understanding of stigma and mental disorders is a significant barrier to seeking help and promoting better mental health and impact our quality of life causing a burden on the economy.

CMRH seeks partnership and collaboration with governmental and non-governmental institutions to promote policies that help address mental health and wellbeing for migrant, refugee and asylum seeker’s backgrounds people. We implement actions that improve mental illness and psychological disorders, including:

early interventions with programs and mental health promotional activities target vulnerable young people in schools
socio-economic empowerment of women
social support for elderly populations
employment opportunities for all individuals regardless of race or gender.
mental health interventions at workplaces
housing policies
domestic and family violence prevention programs
anti-discrimination, prejudice and racism laws.

Policy Support and Advocacy

CMRH advocates for policies that support social justice and equal opportunities in access to decent housing, employment, education, and food security.

The centre recognises challenges that confound individual lives, mental health and wellbeing. Championing for complementary policies and services development is why CMRH seeks to advance partnership, networking, and collaboration for immediate solutions.

Partnership, Collaboration and Research

CMRH utilises a multidisciplinary approach towards achieving a common goal for better mental health outcomes.

CMRH believes circumstances that poise mental illness requires concerted efforts through collaborative approaches. We aim for the future that utilises existing relationships to continue pursuing policies that support best practices in research and advocacy for social change.

Centre for Migrant and Refugee Health

We are here to help you!

Our services range from onsite, referral, and outreach (home-based) programs. We provide culturally safe, appropriate interventions and mental healthcare-specific services. In addition, the centre supports research and advocate for policies that eliminate systemic inequities and inequalities in accessing mental health and healthcare services.