Department of Health

Victoria’s public mental health services must provide the same level of access to services and the same quality of services to all cultural and linguistic groups, including Aboriginal people, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, refugees and asylum seekers, women and gender-diverse people.

These vulnerable populations have greater risks of developing mental illness and they have fewer protective factors than the general population.

Despite considerable government investment in culturally responsive mental healthcare over many years, people from non-English-speaking and other vulnerable communities continue to access mental health services at lower rates than others in the population, and to present at later stages in the development of mental illness.

Reviewed 28 May 2015

Health.vic

Was this page helpful?