Project Spotlight

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Serving Indigenous youth aged 8 to 23, the overall aim of the Community Activity Programs through Education-Indigenous Police Citizen Youth Club (Cape PCYC) is to reduce youth boredom through sport and recreation.
The StandBy Response Service is a community based program that provides a 24 hour coordinated crisis response to assist families, friends and associates who have been bereaved through suicide.
The Community Broadcasting Suicide Prevention Project uses community radio networks around Australia to build a greater understanding of issues surrounding mental health and suicide prevention.
CAN - Community Connections emphasises the value of consumer led service delivery no matter what the consumer's mental health problem(s) may be.
CALD Community Connections is a community suicide prevention project that works to increase wellbeing, reduce suicide risk and enhance capacity for individuals to respond to suicidal crises within CALD communities in Tasmania.
The purpose of the Making My Living initiative is to provide awareness education and engagement strategies to government and non-government youth service providers and community members who have contact with young refugee people.
Suicide, QUestions, Answers and REsources (square) is a suicide prevention resource for people who work in primary health care. The resource promotes assessment and management of suicide risk in patients in the primary health care setting through training programs and follow-up sessions.
The Yiriman Project is a suicide prevention initiative that works with Aboriginal community and families in the south central and west Kimberley region in Western Australia for a 'whole of community' approach to support positive social change.
Promote Living is a suicide prevention training project run by the Perth Primary Care Network in collaboration with the Western Australian Ministerial Council for Suicide Prevention. The project consists of a series of training sessions for Western Australian GPs and nurses.
The LifeForce suicide prevention project is a national suicide prevention program that aims to educate, empower and resource Australian communities.
Rural Alive and Well is a community suicide prevention project that was developed in response to the extreme drought conditions prevalent in the Southern Midlands and Central Highlands of Tasmania.
The Farm Link suicide prevention project seeks to improve the mental health and well-being of people who live and work on NSW farms. The project uses an innovative model that was founded on research and is consistent with policy.
A joint project between the Murrumbidgee Division of General Practice and the Griffith Aboriginal Medical Service, Life Matters for Koori Youth aims to address self-harming and suicidal behaviour by Indigenous youth within the communities of Western Riverina, NSW
The Integrated Client Services Delivery Program for the Family Courts of Australia project aims to improve people’s access to mental health services by ensuring the court system’s processes are as supportive as possible.
The Mental Health First Aid Training and Research Program conducts research and training courses that aspire to increase Australians’ understanding of mental health.
Community Connections supports older men in Queensland rural areas who are at high risk of suicide. The program is coordinated through inter-agency referrals.
Lifeline Australia’s Suicide Bereavement Support Group Standards & Practice Project is a workforce development project which aims to improve suicide bereavement support by developing a) standards and guidelines to inform best practice and b) training for group facilitators.
headspace provides health and mental health support, information and services to young people and their families across Australia. Issues headspace regularly deal with include self harm, depression, anxiety and alcohol and other drug use.
The SANE StigmaWatch program monitors the Australian media and voices community feedback about media representations to ensure accurate and respectful representation of mental illness and suicide.
OzHelp Tasmania is a workplace-based early intervention and social capacity building program for the Tasmanian building and construction industry. The project delivers training, support and awareness raising activities to building and construction workers.
Reach Out Pro is a web-based service that supports health care professionals to use new technologies in their work with young people. The Reach Out Pro website provides information about what young people are doing online and the significance of technology in their lives.
The SANE Mental Illness Bereavement Project aims to improve services and support for family and friends of people with mental illness who have died by suicide or are missing.
Multicultural Mental Health Australia provides national leadership in building greater awareness of mental health and suicide prevention amongst Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
The OzHelp expansion to Goulburn, Queanbeyan and NSW is project widening the geographic area covered by the OzHelp work-based program of support, advice and counselling for apprentices within the construction industry.
MindMatters is a national mental health initiative for secondary schools, funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and implemented by Principals Australia Inc (formerly APAPDC).
The Mindframe National Media Initiative seeks to influence the media industry and the mental health sector to report mental illness and suicide issues responsibly, accurately and sensitively.
Reducing Suicide and Its Impact In Culturally Diverse Communities in Tasmania aims to increase capacity for suicide prevention in refugee and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities in Tasmania.
The Post Discharge Care for High Risk Psychiatric Patients project involved an Intensive Case Management (ICM) intervention study and was developed to fill an existing gap in follow-up care for discharged psychiatric patients.
The Suicide Call Back Service provides crisis counselling to people at risk of suicide, carers for someone who is suicidal and those bereaved by suicide, 24 hours per day 7 days a week across Australia.

LIFE News

LIFE News issue 10, which focuses on suicide prevention in CALD communities, is now available online.

LIFE News is the online newsletter of the National Suicide Prevention Strategy in Australia. Published bi-monthly, LIFE News features comment, project updates, national and international research, and much more.

Previous editions of LIFE News can be located in the LIFE News archive.

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Refugee Youth Active and Connected with Everyone (RYACE)

Refugee Youth Active and Connected with Everyone (RYACE)

Above: Malaz, a participant of RYACE

Ben Waterhouse, youth project worker of Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre, says: ‘When developing a new strategy I sit with the aims, goals and research on the left and the LIFE Framework on the right. Action Area 1 on evidence-based research is particularly useful when developing a strategy. A recent example of this is the issue of drowning and new migrants. Based on the evidence available I was able to incorporate water-safety into our range of activities.’

Young refugees at risk of suicide are better connected through sport and other recreational activities by developing relationships with peers and health professionals. RYACE is managed by the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre.

Aims

RYACE aims to increase connectedness for those at risk through sport and other recreational activities by developing friendships with peers and health professionals. The program attracts 150 refugee youth from Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs. RYACE engages participants from countries including:

Afghanistan
Africa, in particular Sudan and Somalia
Vietnam
Philippines.

Duration

The RYACE program commenced in July 2007. Previously, elements of the RYACE program were provided by the Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre.

Location

The program is based in Preston, Victoria.

Model

The RYACE model combines lessons from the existing Spectrum Migrant Resource Centre programs with emerging sector evidence and participant needs.

Activities

RYACE has an ever expanding range of activities, that include soon to be implemented sessions for parents and budgeting for teens. Current activities include:

basketball
soccer
art classes
water safety
healthy eating talks
social activities
mental health talks
one-on-one counselling.

Evaluation

The RYACE evaluation process uses a number of resources for evidence gathered about the program. This includes:

family caseworkers feedback
national data
focus group findings
individual interviews (conducted by an external evaluator)
ongoing quality assurance reviews
volume of youth accessing the services.

Testimonial

Malaz’s Story

Malaz is a smiley 16-year-old refugee from Sudan. Her life before joining the RYACE program was ‘Boring, I didn’t have any friends… no one to talk to,’ she said.

Now Malaz plays basketball, goes to the movies, paints and attends health-talks. On coming to RYACE Malaz said ‘It’s fun to come here, talk with friends and learn about things. I now find it easier to make friends at school because I am more confident.’

Lessons learned

Refugee males can produce amazing artwork capturing unique expressions of their journey.
Be prepared for some hesitancy from parents for their children to participate in non-academic programs, particularly those from non-English speaking backgrounds.
Allocate time and resources for transporting program participants to and from activities.
Like all youth, refugee youth struggle with issues such as identity and body image.

Project partners

RYACE referral partners include:

general practitioners
psychologists
police officers
psychiatrists
Young Adult Migration Education Centre (YAMEC)
Department of Human Services (DHS).

More information

Ben Waterhouse, youth project worker benw@spectrumvic.org.au

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