Research, Policy and Advocacy

Our Research Services

Our work aligns with the CMRH’s strategic Priorities. Hence, we focus on the mental health and social determinants of health data collections, research, evaluation, analysis, and translation of evidence to impact refugee, migrant, and asylum seekers population health indirectly or directly.

Strategic Framework

CMRH’s vision is linked to improving health and quality of life through a sustainable health system that invests in mental health and wellbeing. We aim to generate data, make it accessible to policymakers, share transformed evidence to enable rapid response to the health services, research, education and build capacity.

Research

We are currently working on different research areas concerning their impact on mental health illness. Our research helps in making decisions across other health policies and facilitate advocacy.

Current Research Projects

The Impact of COVID-19 on African Australians Mental Health

Background

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has inflicted negative thoughts, myths, and concerns that affect individual and community perceptions and attitudes with conceivable or likely anxiety, and depression during COVID-19 lockdown and after lifting or easing restrictions by the Victorian Government.

This survey is to investigate understanding and experiences about COVID-19 during first and second waves impact on the mental health of Africans with a particular focus on South Sudanese Australians. Furthermore, the survey will provide the basis to establish evidence for the prevalence of mental health within South Sudanese Communities.

When we talk about mental health, we mean psychological and emotional wellbeing. Mental illness such as stresses and anxieties can affect us in life by lowering our work productivity and contribution to society.

Therefore, it is equally important for individuals in the family and community to understand the impact of mental illness and the available mental healthcare-specific services during the COVID-19 and beyond. The data from this survey study will help to understand how the community would be provided more social, physical, mental health, and economic support in the current unpredictable post-COVID-19 crisis recovery processes and possible future pandemics.

Advocacy

Our commitment is to advance the voices of people with lived experiences of complex mental illness and related issues to reduce stigma and discrimination. Our Peer Ambassadors inform the CMRH advocacy, Service Users, Volunteers, and Community Champions aimed to change the attitudes and perceptions towards mental illness and informed policy that addresses mental illness in the migrant, refugee, and asylum seeker’s backgrounds communities.

Peer Ambassadors and Champions

CMRH Peer Ambassadors and champions come from the community, networks and partners that raise awareness about mental illness and facilitate community education and health promotion. The CMRH Peer Ambassadors and champions are either people with lived experience, parents, families, friends, and carers who are at some point had suffered complex mental illness or cared for and supported someone who had been affected by mental illness.

To be a part of our CMRH Peer Ambassadors and Volunteers.

Please, contact us through (03) 8382 2125 or info@cmrh.org.au |Thecentremrh@gmail.com |

StigmaRecovery: Mental Health Awareness

Research shows that stigma and discrimination are part of stumbling blocks to accessing mental health and wellbeing in our communities today. In Australia, many communities from multicultural backgrounds fear expressing their attitudes or are unaware of mental illness. It is considered taboo or unspoke due to being labelled, stigmatised, and discriminated. The StigmaRecovery program promotes mental health and raises awareness about mental illness to reduce or eliminate stigma and discrimination from the complexity of mental illness.

Project: StigmaRecovery: Mental Health Awareness

Theme: #BreakTheStigma

The StigmaRecovery is the project that takes a significant step to raise awareness about the implication of stigma and recovery from mental illness. Studies show that stigma and recovery “from” and “in” mental illness have an association or are intertwined in many ways (Avdibegović E & Hasanović M 2017).

In a way, stigma reduces opportunities, self-esteem, efficacy, the belief in own abilities and contributes to social exclusion or isolation through discrimination. In contrast, recovery paves opportunities, makes people or people stronger, gives purpose and meaning to their lives and leads to social inclusion.

This project aims to seek opportunities to create a path to recovery from mental illness by first addressing stigma and discrimination that reduce the prospects of mental illness recovery. Therefore, the project is recovery oriented. It provides help and support to people with mental disorders in their recovery process, contributes to self-stigma reduction, eliminates stigmatising, discriminates attitudes and beliefs in mental healthcare services, and consequently, positive reflection in reducing the stigma of mental illness in the community.

For more information, please contact us through:

(03) 8382 2125 or info@cmrh.org.au | Thecentremrh@gmail.com