Let's Talk Culture! Living in a Pandemic Webinar

Let’s Talk Culture seminar series aim to assist professionals to work in a culturally responsive way with clients from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds, especially in mental health.

Living in a Pandemic tells the stories of 5 multicultural people and their experiences with loneliness, domestic violence and health anxiety during COVID 19.

The webinar panel consisted of 3 service providers who will discuss the following topics.

• The impact on young CaLD people

• Mental health and Well-being

• Economic Hardships

• Online Education

The speakers

Elena

Elena is a sixteen-year-old Filipino young person who is currently completing year 11. Her mother migrated to Australia from the Philippines after meeting her father. Elena lives with her parents, sister, her brother, his wife and their child. Elena’s parents practice Islam, though she herself is Christian. Elena often finds herself between Australian and Filipino cultures and tries to integrate the two in her day to day life. Elena has strong family values and prioritises family connections. Elena experienced some difficulty during Covid-19 due to a number of reasons she will discuss further in her presentation.

Anush

Anush is a 29-year-old female originating from Armenia. She arrived in Australia in 2019 on a bridging visa after meeting her husband online. Anush was separated from her children, with the husband’s promise to bring them Australia (this never happened). She is unable to work, was experiencing financial, emotional and physical violence from husband and one day jumped from car after he hit her and went to the police who provided a phone number for Women’s Domestic Violence Helpline. The next day she was referred to Ishar for support.

Maria

Maria is from the Southern Part of India. She came to Australia in 2015 on a spouse visa. She first lived in Brisbane for 4 years before moving to Perth. Maria has a 4-year-old daughter who she dotes on and proudly says that Anvitha is her pride and joy. Maria is also a yoga teacher and used to be a physiotherapist back in India. Since her move to Australia, her life has been a rollercoaster ride but became even more challenging during Covid-19.

Shakila

Shakila and her family came to Australia from Afghanistan in 2014 as a Humanitarian Entrant. She is a 50-year-old woman and a mother to 5 children.

Shakila was referred to Ishar in 2016 by Red Cross due to the domestic violence she was experiencing from her husband. Shakila enjoys attending the Ishar DV support group, she finds the group supportive and encouraging last year she found the strength after 30 years of being abused, to separate from her husband and move out of the family house. Since 2016 Shakila has been building her strength and courage. She has found her voice and courageously shared her lived experience in November 2019, where she spoke at the International Domestic Violence Conference in Perth.

Azad

Azad is a migrant from Afghanistan. He lived in Pakistan for some time before moving to Tasmania, Australia as a Humanitarian Entrant. He moved to Perth 4 years ago. In Afghanistan, Azad used to work in the police force. In 2009 while he was on duty, the Taliban shot him in the head. He incurred severe head and facial injuries. As a result, Azad is 100% visually impaired. He lives in Gosnells with his wife and 4 young children. Azad loves music and plays the Rubab and Tambora (traditional afghan string instruments). Azad recently performed at the World Music Café, organised by the Multicultural Futures.

The Panel

PJ Menon

PJ is a Youth Focus youth counsellor at headspace Midland where she provides long term counselling for young people aged 12-25. She has significant experience working with people from culturally diverse and LGBTIQA+ groups, with a particular interest in the intersection between them both. PJ also does community engagement work with LGBTIQA+ young people and is heavily involved in activism in this space.

Paul Chang

Paul has been working in the not-for-profit sector for The Smith Family since 2015 following a career of over 20 years in the mining and oil & gas sector. He started as The Smith Family’s Volunteer Relationship Coordinator for WA and in mid-2016 became part of the team looking after the Mirrabooka Communities for Children Project (funded by the Department of Social Services). Paul loves working in the Mirrabooka area and feels privileged to work in such a diverse and resilient community.

Pushpa Siroley

Pushpa currently works in the capacity of Senior Mental Health Advocate at the Multicultural Futures. Pushpa has over 20years experience of working with clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, supporting them to navigate services, especially health and mental health services. She is particularly passionate about providing advocacy to ensure all services are equitably accessible to people of all cultures and backgrounds.