Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing E-Newsletter

Issue No. 22 / November 2014

A Culturally Inclusive 'Celebration Day' for Seniors Week!

‘Celebration Day’ – the opening day of the Victorian Seniors Week Festival – was held on Sunday 5 October 2014, and the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing once again hosted a busy stall along the banks of the Yarra River.

Information packs were distributed in 26 languages – the largest number of languages ever disseminated at the event – with 876 packs collected by members of the public.

The continued success of the Centre’s involvement in this event once again highlights the cultural and linguistic diversity that exists within Victoria’s older population group. The response from the public indicates the vital need to not only produce health and ageing information in an appropriate format for people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, but also to ensure the information is easily accessible.

The Centre greatly appreciates the support of the individuals who assisted on the day with distributing information and speaking to the public in-language. We thank William Chu, Jason Xu and Angela Tee from Chinese Community Social Services, Nade Ristevska from Macedonian Community Welfare Association, Huong Nguyen from Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association and Jesse Crockett from Benetas for their dedication and enthusiasm. We couldn’t have done it without them!

See more photos from the day on our Facebook Page.

Pictured above: Angela Tee, William Chu and Jason Xu from Chinese Community Social Services and Danyel Walker from the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing.

Building Capacity for the Emerging Aged Care Needs of CALD Communities Project

The Department of Social Services has provided funding to develop strategies and build tools that will support culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities with emerging aged care needs to develop competitive Aged Care Approval Round (ACAR) applications.

The ‘Building Capacity for the Emerging Aged Care Needs of CALD Communities’ project is currently being rolled out across Australia.

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing has been contracted by Outcomes Plus to facilitate links with communities and to host community consultations in Victoria. On October 27, over 40 community representatives attended the first consultation sessions. 

Valuable insight was provided by the participants into their specific communities’ aged care needs as well as what have been the experiences of organisations that have, in the past, participated in the ACAR process.

In the next stages of the project the Centre will provide advice on the resources being developed by Outcomes Plus.

Read more

Abstracts Open for Ageing in a Foreign Land Conference

Abstracts are now open for the '3rd International Conference on Ageing in a Foreign Land' in Adelaide, South Australia on 24th June to 26th June 2015.

The Conference will address the needs of the migrant diaspora with regard to ageing and health, service provision, language and cultural identity, and issues of Greek and other Culturally and Linguistically Diverse communities in Australia and overseas. 

This conference is targeted at academics, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, service providers and aged care workers.

More information

Call for Older People Experiencing Loneliness or Isolation

'Company Co' is a start-up social initiative that aims to address both youth unemployment and the social isolation of many older people in the community.

The idea of Company Co is to employ young people to provide social and community engagement opportunities for isolated older people, for example assisting older people to use Skype, hosting a weekly dinner group or providing companionship.

By connecting young and old people in a number of possible ways, Company Co will aim to generate meaningful relationships across generations, and create new opportunities for young and old people alike to engage with and contribute to their communities.

Company Co are currently in the process of talking to potential users to obtain their feedback and input into the program design, and are looking for people that are experiencing loneliness or isolation, or who work in the space and have feedback to provide.

For more information, or to get involved, you can contact the project founder, Anna Donaldson, on 0430 661 405, or at annaldonaldson@gmail.com.

The National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Conference

The Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing attended The National LGBTI Ageing and Aged Care Conference 2014, which was held at a packed Melbourne Town Hall on 28th-29th October 2014. The Conference was hosted by Val’s Cafe - a project seeking to improve the health and wellbeing of older lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people.

Over the two days, many issues of the LGBTI ageing community were presented, including stories of discrimination, social isolation, lack of LGBTI inclusive services, and increased psychological distress compared to the general population.

Understanding the historical context of the LGBTI community was a prominent theme discussed throughout the Conference.  Key events showing extreme discrimination, social exclusion and trauma that has occurred over the years were highlighted. These events have had a profound impact on LGBTI people, and continue to do so into their ageing years.

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'Within My Walls' Short Film: An Elder Abuse Resource for Communities

The Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria (ECCV) launched its short film on elder abuse, Within My Walls, a community education resource on Wednesday 15th October 2014.

Within My Walls is a glimpse into the lives of older people in suburban Melbourne, who have been affected by mistreatment at the hands of their family.

Designed to generate discussion about the topic of elder abuse, the film addresses stigma about accepting help outside the family, not knowing where to go for help and increased dependency on adult children due to migration.

Within My Walls is available in seven languages (Cantonese, Greek, Macedonian, Mandarin, Serbian, Tagalog and Turkish), and the stories show different types of elder abuse experienced in ethnic communities.

To order a copy of the DVD and education resource, contact Fiona York, ECCV Senior Project Officer on 9349 4122 or email fyork@eccv.org.au.

Ageing in Australia Expo Confirmed for 2015!

The highly anticipated Ageing in Australia Expo has been confirmed for Saturday 2 May 2015 at the Melbourne Town Hall.

The free public event is now in its third year, and will feature over 50 exhibitors from the aged care and support services sectors.

More information about exhibiting will be released shortly. To find out more, or to request a copy of the exhibitor prospectus when it’s available, please email danyel@culturaldiversity.com.au.

Working Effectively with the Croatian Community Workshop

Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council (BRMC) invites staff and volunteers who support or are likely to support clients from Croatian background to a workshop on Effectively Working with the Croatian Community.

When: Thursday 27th November 2014, 11am-1pm
Where: BRMC at GPLACE, 102 English Street, Golden Point 3350

This workshop aims to raise cultural awareness of aged and health care workers in delivering services to people from a Croatian background.

The session will inform about local demographics, customs, beliefs, health issues, attitudes towards older people and aged care, barriers in accessing services and tips on working effectively with clients from a Croatian background.

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Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre Celebrate 21 years of Service!

The Southern Migrant & Refugee Centre (SMRC) celebrated 21 Years of servicing multicultural communities on the 15th October 2014 at their Dandenong office.

The celebration, which included an address by Senator the Hon Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services; Brian Oats, Chairperson SMRC Board of Directors and Jenny Semple, CEO, also saw a festive and vibrant performance from the Sudanese Lopit Community Dance Group.

Jenny Semple screened a new video titled '21 years of stories' which was developed to celebrate the anniversary. The film documents some of the highlights of her work at the centre since 1998, and also includes stories from various clients, volunteers and workers of the SMRC.

The SMRC are a not-for-profit community based agency who provide services to migrants and refugees living in the southern region of Melbourne.

Watch the SMRC 21 Years of Stories video

Pictured left: Andrea Baranski, Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing and Felicita Sivasudasan, SMRC

Our Voices: Stories of Carers from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds

A beautifully crafted series of five short films, providing rare and profound insight into the lives of carers from migrant and refugee backgrounds caring for family members with mental illness, was launched on Friday 31st October 2014 at the State Library of Victoria.

The films, ‘Our Voices’, Stories of Carers from Migrant and Refugee backgrounds, explore the lives of carers from Afghani, Egyptian, Somali, Turkish and Vietnamese communities.

The deeply insightful, courageous and poignant stories of the carers have been uniquely captured via the collaboration and support of many leading mental health, carer and multicultural organisations and produced by the Australian film house, Digital Black.

The stories show the often overwhelming challenges carers face coming to terms with the situation and navigating language barriers, stigma, the cultural context and understanding the health system and local services.

For more information call Victorian Transcultural Mental Health (VTMH) on ph: 9288 3300.