Frequently Asked Questions

The Framework for Mental Health in Multicultural Australia (the Framework) is a free, nationally available online resource designed to help Australian mental health services, practitioners, Primary Health Networks (PHNs) and others to work effectively in a multicultural context.

The Framework consists of a tailored set of modules and self-reflection tools, which allow organisations and individual practitioners to evaluate and enhance their cultural responsiveness. Users build on their strengths and address areas for improvement in a self-paced way, with free access to a range of support and resources to inform both professional and service development. This new version of the Framework sees the content streamlined into a series of core service modules, with the addition of two self-reflection tools and free access to an entry-level cultural awareness module.

The Framework has been mapped against national standards (particularly the National Standards for Mental Health Services (2010) and the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (second edition, 2017) to help organisations and practitioners meet and report against their existing requirements.

This Framework is applicable to small and large services and covers all aspects of service delivery, including planning, management, outcomes monitoring and evaluation. The Framework is primarily for managers and workers/clinicians who are seeking to improve the cultural responsiveness of their service delivery. It provides guidance to anyone interested in improving culturally responsive care, including policymakers, consumers and carers, and health and social researchers. While the strategies outlined in this Framework specifically address the needs and issues of people from CALD backgrounds, they are strongly aligned with recovery-oriented practice and will improve mental health care for all Australians.

The Framework is different to other cultural competency tools as it is free to access, created specifically for mental health services, aligned with national standards, and can be completed at your own pace.

Depending on the size and complexity of the organisation and availability of information to complete the Framework, we estimate the process will generally take a few hours to complete. You are not required to complete the Framework in one sitting, and can work through the modules at your own pace.

The Framework will assist your organisation to evaluate its current level of cultural responsiveness in service delivery to CALD consumers and carers and track progress over time, resulting in more effective and efficient service delivery for all.

Following the assessment stage of the module, services will be guided in making a plan and develop strategies to improve cultural responsiveness.

There are numerous resources available to view whilst completing the modules which provide inspiration, guidance and assistance in strengthening cultural responsiveness.

The results obtained through each Service Module will highlight which areas of your organisation should be prioritised for action. The overall score obtained will assist to determine how to progress to the next level of competency.

The Framework is designed to turn principles into actions. All key mental health policies and plans contain principles in relation to culturally responsive addiction and mental health care and the need for culturally inclusive practice. What they don’t provide, however, is detailed strategies and indicators to assess whether this has been achieved. The Framework aims to address this gap. Its straightforward approach enables each organisation to work at its own pace, making measurable improvements over time that can be translated into a clear action plan.

The Framework has been developed to support local safety and quality management processes and practices. Quality management is about continuously improving and making services and organisations more culturally responsive to the changing population demographics in their local catchment areas. It is not a one-off or stand-alone process. Rather it is a steady and continuous approach to implementing quality and safety that will bring meaningful change. The Framework has been developed to support core business processes, rather than as a source of additional work. Improving the cultural responsiveness of mental health services will not only result in safer and better quality services, it will also achieve greater efficiency and savings.

The assessment score for each of the four Service Modules, two Self-Reflection Tools and evidence uploaded by you are strictly confidential and can only be accessed by the user and administration. Data will be kept and maintained in a highly confidential manner to ensure confidentiality is not compromised.

The Embrace Project will be able to access the demographic data provided upon registration, the total score generated by the completion of the Service Modules and submitted evidence. The Embrace Project will not make this information public and will only use de-identified aggregate data to inform their policy development and implementation.