Expert Insight Forum – Exploring Attitudes and Stigma

The Expert Insight Forum -Exploring Attitudes and Stigma forum will share information about best practice when working with members of Tasmania’s newly arrived community members from refugee and humanitarian entrant backgrounds. It will explore attitudes and stigmas about mental health and suicide, and discuss barriers to help seeking and accessing services, and what we’ve learned from consultations over the past six months.

Who should attend?

Suicide Prevention Trial Site working group members, human service providers, medical practitioners, front line workers, teachers, and anyone who works or volunteers with people newly arrived to Tasmania from refugee and humanitarian entrant backgrounds.

What will I learn?

• Culturally appropriate responses to people from refugee and humanitarian entrant backgrounds who are at risk of suicide

• Findings from research on Attitudes to Mental Health and Suicide – Multicultural perspectives

Keynote Speaker:

Associate Professor Jill Benson AM

Associate Professor Jill Benson AM has been a GP for over 35 years and spreads her time amongst many different roles. Her main role at present is as a medical educator with GPEx, the training organisation for GPs in South Australia and with ModMed, a health professional education organisation. She also works at Doctors Health SA seeing doctors as patients and teaches wellbeing and resilience skills.

Jill is the secretary of the World Organisation of GPs (WONCA) Mental Health Working Party. She has worked extensively with refugees, has a PhD in refugee health and over the last year has assisted STTARS in teaching community GPs about refugee health, and assisted with setting up a pain clinic for Bhutanese refugees. Dr Benson says she ‘likes people’ and loves ‘hearing their stories and learning about the myriad of ways that people approach and deal with their lives and their illnesses’.

Presentations include:

• Culturally Aware Approaches to Suicide and Mental Health

• Dr. Helen Merrick: findings of research

• Stories of Lived Experience

• Panel discussions with Community Consultants/Co-researchers

Cost: Free
RSVP: by 4 September 2019 via Eventbrite
Please advise dietary requirements at time of booking. For more information please contact Beth Lord: blord@mrctas.org.au