A Seat at the Table: Overview

Young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds talk mental health

Many new young people from refugee and asylums seeker backgrounds adapt successfully to their new environment when arriving in Australia!
However, many are particularly vulnerable during these transitions and are at risk of struggling with their mental health and wellbeing.

Using a co-design or co-production approach, A Seat at the Table brings together young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds with local service providers. Aiming to improve the mental health of these community members and participation in mental health services in Melbourne’s western region.

A Seat at the Table

A Seat at the Table has three phases:

Phase 1

Here we gathered information on the needs of young people, how they access services and engage with the available mental health services.
This information was collected by consulting service providers, community representatives and discussing the latest research studies.

Phase 2

In phase 2 of the project, we are guided by Peer Acadamy through a co-design process. Working with young people and service providers to develop strategies that will be tested in Melbourne west. The co-designed or co-produced ideas will also be further developed and implemented with support from young people and service providers in Melbourne west.

Read about the co-design process of Seat at the Table here.

Read about the process evaluation of Seat at the Table here.

Phase 3

This is where we take the ideas developed during the co-design process and trial them.

In order to be successful in phase 3, working groups will be established for each idea. These groups will consist of young people from a diverse range of communities across the west and representatives from service providers. The purpose of the groups is to create a strong link between young refugee and asylum seekers living in Melbourne’s western region.

Read about the final evaluation of Seat at the Table here.

Seat at the Table – IDEA WORKING GROUPS

Aim

A Seat at the Table looks to improve the mental health among young people through increased participation in mental health services, improved health literacy and pathways that are appropriate for both young people and service providers so that everyone has the option of accessing a service for assistance if and when they need.

Final Project Celebration and Exhibition

Seat at the Table hosted a final celebration of mental health and young people from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds.
We also opened a week-long (14th-20th Nov) exhibition of Seat at the Table work (form the pilots) and celebrated everyone’s hard work over the years.