Klara Giourgas

Meeting the health needs of migrant and refugee communities is crucial to successful settlement and integration. These communities are often under-served by mental health services. Previous research has demonstrated the effectiveness of a group mindfulness-based intervention tailored for Arabic and Bangla speakers living in Sydney, Australia. This study aimed to explore community partner perspectives on the program’s impact, contributing factors and sustainability, and to elicit suggestions for future development. Data were collected via semi-structured telephone interviews with a purposively selected sample of 16 informants. Thematic analysis was conducted using the Rigorous and Accelerated Data Reduction (RADaR) technique. Community partners welcomed the emphasis on promoting wellbeing and reported that the community-based in-language intervention, in both face-to-face and online formats, overcame many of the barriers to timely mental health care for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities, with a beneficial impact on group participants, program providers, partner organisations and the broader community. Positive outcomes led to stronger community engagement and demand for more programs. For group mental health programs, both trust and safety are necessary. Relationships must be nurtured, diversity within CALD communities recognised, and projects adequately resourced to ensure partner organisations are not overburdened.

Migrant communities are often under-served by mental health services. Lack of community engagement results in missed opportunities for mental health promotion and early intervention, delayed care, and high rates of untreated psychological distress. Bilingual clinicians and others who work with these communities lack linguistically and culturally appropriate resources. This article reports on the implementation and evaluation of a community-based group mindfulness program delivered to Arabic and Bangla-speaking communities in Sydney, Australia, including modifications made to the content and format in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program was positioned within a stepped-care model for primary mental health care and adopted a collaborative regional approach. In addition to improved mental health outcomes for face-to-face and online program participants, we have documented numerous referrals to specialist services and extensive diffusion of mindfulness skills, mostly to family members, within each community. Community partnerships were critical to community engagement. Training workshops to build the skills of the bilingual health and community workforce increased the program’s reach. In immigrant nations such as Australia, mainstream mental health promotion must be complemented by activities that target specific population groups. Scaled up, and with appropriate adaptation, the group mindfulness program offers a low-intensity in-language intervention for under-served communities.