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Health waiver programs

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Regional expansion

Regional expansion

We currently support three health waiver programs – one at the Asylum Seeker and Refugee Health Hub (since 2016), one in partnership with Whittlesea Community Connections in Epping called the Hume Whittlesea Pharmacy Waiver Program (since 2018) and the newest one called Shepparton Pharmacy Waiver Program (since 2021).

These programs provide essential medications and medical aids, such as glasses, to clients for people seeking asylum who have no income and no access to a Healthcare Card, making the cost prohibitive for essential medical care.

This year, hundreds of clients across all of the waiver programs were supported with their medication costs, with 1456 clients receiving 3884 essential medications at a cost of $111,000. In addition, 18 clients were assisted with optometry appointments and received free glasses.

These programs have been well supported by the generosity of Cabrini Outreach’s donors and would not be possible without the cooperation and partnership of key organisations – Brunswick Pharmacy, Chemist Depot Pharmacy in Epping and Shepparton Pharmacy along with the Australian College of Optometry and Specsavers Shepparton.

Thanks to a generous three-year pledge from the Barr Family Foundation, we are able to continue providing support to children and their families through the health waiver programs.

We welcome children at the Asylum Seeker and Refugee Hub and try to create a safe and happy space for them while their parents are accessing our services.

Artwork created by children, like the drawing above, is proudly displayed throughout the Hub. We believe this image reflects the hope we strive to provide our clients and their families.

Screening Tool for Asylum Seeker and Refugee Mental Health (STAR-MH)

The eSTAR-MH was launched to a global audience in September 2021 and was promoted by Professor Suresh Sundram in his address to the Union of Superiors General and Scalabrini International Migration Institute’s three-day international conference on the Theology of Human Mobility in the 21st Century.

In partnership with the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy, the eSTAR-MH has been employed to screen newly arrived forced migrants in Italy as part of a government-funded project to integrate migrant intake processes and public mental health services in the Milan region. The team is developing a similar study with a Malaysian non-government organisation, Health Equity Initiatives and Monash University Malaysia.

The STAR-MH has been field-tested in Italy with partners at the University of Milano-Bicocca, with positive feedback from reception centre workers administering the tool to forced migrants residing in reception centres in northern Italy.

The eSTAR-MH is being used by a growing number of agencies in Australia.

Impact of immigration detention on Asylum Seekers and Refugees

We are conducting one of the first studies globally to measure the health impacts of immigration detention.

The research team published a paper highlighting the impact of immigration detention on asylum seekers and refugees detained indefinitely on Nauru as part of Australia’s offshore processing policy for those seeking protection by boat. Within a few weeks of publication, it attracted considerable attention with an Alt metric score of 55.

As an extension of the Nauru study, recruitment for a new and innovative longitudinal research project commenced in December 2021, examining the physical and mental health of migrants with an experience of immigration detention. This project, in partnership with Monash University, is led by Professor Suresh Sundram alongside the research team - Dr Debbie Hocking, Professor Susan Rees (University of NSW) and PhD candidate Bafreen Sherif. The study will follow up participants at multiple time points for 12 months.

This longitudinal study has enrolled 59 participants with an experience of off-shore and/or on-shore detention (including hotel detention), with 51 baseline assessment interviews completed to date. The 87 interviews include 25 Time 2 and 11 Time 3 interviews, resulting in a retention rate of 84%.

The study has received a Collier grant, and the research team are collaborating with other sites to progress recruitment. Collaboration with interstate sites has also commenced, as an expansion of the recruitment strategy.

https://www.simieducation.org/en/calendar/migranti-epellegrini-come-tutti-i-nostri-padri-1-cr-29-15-teologia-dellamobilita-umana-nel-xxi-secolo/#

Refugee Adolescent study

Eighty-one newly resettled (within 12 months) adolescent (12-17 years) refugees were recruited through English language schools in Melbourne. Adolescent participants were screened and assessed for mental disorders and psychological symptoms. Separate to the adolescents, their caregivers were also screened for mental disorders and administered self-report measures regarding the adolescent’s and the care-giver’s own mental and emotional health symptoms.

Our findings are novel for this time of resettlement and provide insights as to how mental illnesses may emerge in this vulnerable group.

We have completed a paper for publication entitled Age and environmental factors predict psychological symptoms in adolescent refugees during the initial post-resettlement phase, which has been submitted for review.

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