MRHP April 2025 Update - Innovations in Health & Community Support
April 15, 2025
A Message from Our MRHP Council Chair
"MRHP’s priorities for the year ahead include strengthening culturally responsive healthcare, addressing health inequities, and amplifying the voices of migrant and refugee communities in health policy and service design."
"By continuing to work collaboratively, we will drive positive change towards ensuring that all individuals, regardless of their background, have access to the healthcare and support they need to thrive, not just survive."
Dr Kym Jenkins AM, February 2025
Transforming Migrant & Refugee Health
Under the Community & Cohesion Support Program (CCSP), which is delivered by The Social Policy Group, grassroots organisations are supported to deliver critical work to respond to the needs of Australian Palestinian, Muslim and Arab community members affected by the ongoing conflict. The case studies below showcase the innovative and community-driven strategies employed by these grassroots organisations which aim to improve community access to our healthcare system.
CASE STUDY A) Australian Islamic Medical Association (AIMA)
AIMA plays a vital role in linking newly arrived Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab families from Gaza with relevant healthcare professionals in the inner north, west and east Melbourne. Palestine Australia Relief Action (PARA) has worked directly with AIMA as their medical advisory team to ensure refugee families are referred to GPs providing pro bono care until they become eligible for Medicare. This support includes assistance with arranging appointments, making phone calls, and accessing transport to hospitals, GPs, dentists, and other clinicians.
Thanks to support from CCSP, AIMA is able to address the urgent healthcare needs of newly arrived families, coordinate access to essential services, and provide ongoing support to those who have sustained injuries during the conflict, as well as those with long-term, unmet health needs.
CASE STUDY B) Rahma Health
Rahma Health delivers national, system-wide health and parenting education to help families embrace the magic of the first five years of their child’s life. Rahma Health creates videos, quizzes, articles and education sessions to support families and clinicians. These resources cover topics ranging from the importance of gazing into your child’s eyes with intention and love, to how to dose paracetamol correctly when a child is unwell.
Rahma Health has used the CCSP grant to produce community-led, culturally-informed, psychologically-safe resources for newly arrived refugee families. These cover topics such as the importance of loving homes, awareness of family violence, refugee mental health, paediatric mental health, the impact of trauma, antenatal education, and an overview of the healthcare system in Australia. Many refugee families have experienced war, displacement, political instability and economic instability for years. Thus they are motivated to break the intergenerational trauma cycle and to give their children the best start to life. Rahma’s community-led resources have been used over a million times by this incredibly resilient community.
SETSCoP DFV in Settlement Webinar | March 2025
In March 2025, the SETSCoP Secretariat, delivered by The Social Policy Group, brought together key representatives with the goal of strengthening the settlement sector’s capacity to effectively respond to those impacted by Domestic and Family Violence (DFV). A total of 186 representatives attended the webinar. Attendees explored the challenges that migrant and refugee families face when seeking DFV services.
Key takeaways included:
- A collective strengthening of awareness of the challenges SETS clients face when accessing mainstream DFV services and;
- Understanding of what resources, information and support is available for SETS providers so they can better respond to the needs of clients.
“This webinar was powerful in bringing together diverse parts of the sector— government, DFV services, settlement providers, academia, and advocates—to reflect on the complexity of responding to DFV in migrant and refugee communities. It was especially valuable to hear directly from practitioners working on the ground, whose insights reminded us that culturally safe approaches are not optional—they are essential to building trust and delivering meaningful support"
Jimena Loreto, Junior Policy Officer | SPG
New Updates on the MyAus App: Essential Information Just Got Better!
The updated ‘Dental’ article features additional information for how communities can access the Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS).
A range of critical health information has been adapted and translated for migrant and refugee communities on the MyAus App. This latest update contributes essential information for families and breaks down CDBS eligibility criteria, the range of services covered, how to claim benefits, and how to keep Centrelink details up to date.
Healthy Horizons: Supporting Every Woman, at Every Stage
Healthy Horizons was created with valuable input from women of migrant and refugee backgrounds, ensuring that issues, approach, and resources serve diverse women’s needs.
Healthy Horizons provides women’s health information in English, Arabic, and Simplified Chinese. It has recently been updated with multilingual resources aimed at supporting perinatal healthcare to support migrant and refugee women to have access to healthy pregnancy information.
For service providers working with migrant and refugee communities, a tailored Conversation Guide to support perinatal care is available and provides key strategies for compassionate and effective support and referrals during the perinatal period.
PANDA has Launched a Mental Health Checklist Translated into 40 Languages
Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia (PANDA) has launched a Mental Health Checklist translated into 40 languages. This is the first community-validated, translated mental health tool of its kind in Australia, with languages including Arabic, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, and Dari.
The checklist is designed to identify potential symptoms of postnatal anxiety and depression by focusing on three areas; physical and behavioural changes, thoughts and feelings, and relationships. You can help by sharing these resources within your networks and advocating for the value of multilingual perinatal resources.
Public Consultation on an Emerging Mental Health Curriculum Framework for Undergraduate Health Degree
This consultation is now live on the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Consultation Hub and will remain open until Friday 18 April 2025.
As valued stakeholders, we invite you to contribute your views and help shape recommendations to support the development of a mental health curriculum framework. You are welcome to share this survey among your networks or to anyone who you think may have an interest in contributing.
You can email MHWorkforce@health.gov.au if you have any questions.