MODULE 4: TREATMENT

M4_1: Are there DEIDENTIFIED/ANONYMISED examples you can share from your work practice that demonstrate the barriers to help-seeking among CALD victims/survivors of CSA?

Non-cultural barriers

• Lack of awareness of services

• Lack of worthiness and wanting to forget

• Fear of children being removed

Migratory/acculturative barriers

• Fear of deportation

• Language barriers

Cultural barriers

• Fatalistic and/or religious beliefs

• Normative reliance on intra-familial support

• Shame for seeking extra-familial support

M4_2: Are there DEIDENTIFIED/ANONYMISED examples you can share from your work practice that demonstrate the importance of confidentiality among CALD victims/survivors?

M4_3: What do you think/feel about the service delivery model proposed in the program?

• This model argues that service should be client-centred, so that individuals are not ‘boxed in’ by their ethnicity.

• It also identifies a comprehensive list of variables for consideration by practitioners – across four tiers (trauma, CALD, other, and service) – that are relevant to the Australian (and other comparable western multicultural) context.

M4_4: Are there DEIDENTIFIED/ANONYMISED examples you can share from your work practice that demonstrate the service-relevant variables for CALD victims/survivors?

Trauma-related variables include:

• Gender

• Age and duration of abuse

• Severity

• Known/unknown perpetrator and who

• Location (including institutional context)

CALD-related variables include:

• English proficiency and need for interpreter

• Generational status and presence of intergenerational conflict

• Years of residency, acculturation, and attitudes about collectivism and patriarchy

• Social isolation/disconnection from extended family

• Religion and orthodoxy

• Citizenship/visa status, fear of deportation, and history of forced migration

• Awareness and understanding of systems and services, and fear of authorities (especially among the newly arrived)

• Cultural identity, sense of belonging, being visibly different, stereotyping, racism, discrimination, social exclusion, and vilification

Other variables include:

• Neighbourhood

• Family structure

• Disability

• Sexuality

• Impacts on physical and mental health

• Social difficulties

• Length of delay in disclosing, presence of supportive responses to disclosure, and attachment style to caregivers post-disclosure

Service-related variables include:

Cultural competency at the personal level

• Non-racist attitudes, empathy, patience, and open-mindedness

• Value for and practice in cultural self-awareness and reflection

• Sense of efficacy in working with CALD clients

• Being aware of the pros and cons of a medical versus sociological approach to the treatment of mental illness

• Encouraging self-help, family, and group therapy to avoid professional omnipotence in a one-on-one setting

Cultural competency at the organisational level

• Promotional/visual inclusiveness

• Using interpreters or bilingual staff trained in matters to do with sexual assault and providing such training

• Having an ethnically diverse workforce including in management positions

• Providing regular ‘cultural competency’ training to service provider staff

• Using ‘a multicultural framework’ within mission statements, organisational philosophies, practice frameworks, etc.

• Mandatorily collecting data on ethnicity-related variables

• Strong links with local CALD community members and organisations

M4_5: Do you have any other thoughts or comments you would like to make that this video triggered for you?

The videos talk about English proficiency because this is the mainstream language in Australia, however principles of honouring non-dominant languages in any country still hold.