Changing Cultures: Enhancing Mental Health and Wellbeing of Refugee Young People through Education and Training

Abstract

Many refugee people and others entering Australia under the Humanitarian Program, have experienced extremely stressful and disrupted lives prior to arrival. A major difficulty experienced by a significant number of refugee young people is their lack of formal education before arrival. It directly affects their ability to start connecting to their new society and constructing a new life. The level of ease with which young people can move into the education and training system and begin to establish a meaningful career pathway has a huge impact on their successful settlement and stable mental health. This paper describes the Changing Cultures Project, a three-year project, which explored models of appropriate and accessible education and training for refugee and newly arrived young people that would enhance their mental health. The Changing Cultures Project was a partnership between the education, health and settlement sectors. This paper describes the program and system response to the health, settlement, education and vocational issues facing refugee young people using a mental health promotion framework and reflective practice. We discuss how the refugee youth programs met a broad range of needs as well as providing language, literacy and basic education to newly arrived young people. While working in an environment of changing policy and public opinion regarding refugee issues, the Project delivered successful outcomes at the program and organisational levels for refugee young people by addressing issues of program development and delivery, organisational development and capacity building and community development and evaluation.