Man obtaining mental health services from a woman. Source : Pexels
The Federal Government has an announced a $7.8 million investment into mental health interpreting services for Australians.
The investment in the services is the Translating and Interpreting Services (TIS) National and aims at providing better access to the services for people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
The investment will help provide services to those from CALD backgrounds to help them access mental health services in Australia.
Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health Emma McBride said the investment is an important step in ensuring all Australians, regardless of their backgrounds and English proficiency, have access to mental health services.
“Every Australian, wherever they live, or language they speak, deserves affordable, quality, and accessible mental health care.” Ms McBride said.
“With one in five Australians speaking a language other than English at home, we are determined to improve access to mental health care through quality, safe interpreting services.
“Australia’s official interpreting services deliver high-quality, cost-effective, and secure interpreting services for people who do not speak English and for agencies and businesses that need to communicate with their non-English speaking clients.
“The Albanese Government is investing $7.8 million to make sure people from CALD backgrounds can access help and support where, when, and how the need it.” She said.
The investment will help remove a significant barrier that Australians from CALD backgrounds face when seeking mental health support.
The funding will allow for services to be available through Primary Health Network-commissioned mental health services, which includes headspace and adult mental health services.
Statistics have found that people from CALD backgrounds seek mental health services and support at a much lower rate than the wider population, which is partly due to issues navigating the system.
As such, removing the language barrier and improving widespread access to interpreting services will help those who need mental health support to obtain it when needed, without issue.
