Executive Summary

The Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV) consulted with people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds to find out what facilitates and hinders mental health and wellbeing for them and their communities.

The main overarching aims of this paper are to examine:

• Predictors of mental health and wellbeing;
• Barriers and facilitators to access and engage with health and mental health services;
• Satisfaction with these services; and
• Community recommendations

ECCV wanted to better understand if and how refugees and people seeking asylum in Victoria use mental health services and what the best pathways and support options are to improve their mental health.

ECCV found that these communities have difficulties accessing a complex health system and are vulnerable to being left behind. More needs to be done to make the mental health system work better for these communities and for them to feel they are treated with humanity, dignity and respect.