Training and Professional Development offered by Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania
MRC Tas delivers training on-site, as well as in workplaces and other community venues, to community sector and government employees, industry, volunteers, students, and others who are interested in understanding how to increase their awareness of cultural diversity and capacity to provide support to people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. Our bicultural workers are a key element in the success of our training.
Scheduled Training Workshops
For workshop information, dates, and online registration, please click on the menu items below:
This 3 hour workshop will cover:
- the broad concepts of ‘culture’ and cultural awareness
- definitions and terms used in migration contexts
- immigration to Australia and Tasmania
- Tasmania’s current demographics, including diversity in languages and religions
- experiences of people subject to forced migration
- common refugee experiences prior to arrival in Australia
- basic definitions regarding trauma
- cross-cultural communication skills
- communication variations across cultures
- awareness about working with interpreters, and
- the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania and Phoenix Centre services
Who should attend?
This is a core workshop for anyone working with, or intending to work with, people from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) background.
Appropriate for people working within education, health, youth or community sectors.
Please note:
It is strongly recommended that interested participants complete the Cultural Awareness Training workshop prior to other workshops offered by MRC Tasmania. The foundational knowledge and understandings gained in this training will provide you with better grounding for more in-depth workshops.
Upcoming workshop dates:
Click here to view upcoming workshops
Cost:
$120 (full fee) or $100 (concession)
Participants will be forwarded an invoice after the training.
Register
Please direct any enquiries to training@mrctas.org.au or call 03 6221 0999.
This 2 hour workshop will cover:
- Overview of legislation and policy
- Resources and practice guides available
- Role of interpreters
- Role of clinician or service provider
- Accessing interpreter services
- Strategies for communication
- Case scenarios and role plays
- Culturally appropriate assessment and interview resources, and
- The Migrant Resource Centre and Phoenix Centre services
Who should attend?
This is a workshop for anyone providing direct service to, or working with, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD) where English may not be spoken or spoken well.
Appropriate for people working within education, housing, health, recreation, government services, justice, youth or community sectors.
Please note:
It is strongly recommended that interested participants complete the Cultural Awareness Training workshop prior to this workshop. The foundational knowledge and understandings gained in that training will provide you with better grounding for this workshop.
Upcoming workshop dates:
Click here to view upcoming workshops
Cost:
$100 (full fee)/$80 (concession)
Participants will be forwarded an invoice after the training.
Register
Please direct any enquiries to training@mrctas.org.au or call 03 6221 0999.
This 6 hour workshop will cover:
- The broad concepts of culture and cultural awareness
- Tasmanian current demographics, including diversity in languages and religion
- Definitions and terms used in migration
- Australia’s part in the international refugee settlement programme
- A framework for understanding work with refugees and asylum seekers
- Experiences of people from a refugee background, both prior to arrival in Tasmania and during resettlement
- The link between what people have been through, the sorts of issues and behaviours they may present with, and how to work in a way that fosters feelings of trust, safety and control, while minimising the risk of re-traumatisation
- Awareness and strategies to identify torture and trauma experience signs and symptoms
- Referral pathways to appropriate services
- Culturally appropriate assessment and interview resources
- An appropriate model of recovery used to work with people from a refugee background, and
- The Migrant Resource Centre and Phoenix Centre services
Who should attend?
This is an in-depth workshop for anyone providing direct service to, or working with, people from a refugee, asylum seeker or refugee-like background.
Appropriate for people working within education, health, youth or community sectors.
Please note:
Some concepts from Cultural Awareness Training are covered in this workshop, so it is not necessary for participants to attend Cultural Awareness Training first, but it may be beneficial for greater knowledge and understanding if working directly with people from a refugee background.
Upcoming workshop dates:
This 3.5 hour safeTALK workshop is for everyone who wants to help prevent suicide: front line workers, clergy, volunteers, parents, youth (age 15 and older), police officers, teachers, bicultural workers, interpreters or anyone who wants to learn suicide prevention skills.
Participants will learn four basic steps to recognise persons with thoughts of suicide and connect them with appropriate resources.
Most people with thoughts of suicide invite help but these opportunities can be missed, dismissed or avoided, leaving people more alone and at greater risk. safeTALK workshop prepares you to help by using TALK (Tell, Ask, Listen and KeepSafe).
Who should attend?
Anyone interested in providing support to people who may be at risk of suicide. Participants must be over the age of 15 years.
Upcoming workshop dates:
This 4 hour workshop will cover:
- Further examination of the impact of past trauma and current trauma
- Incidental counselling skills for a range of potential situations
- Emotional responses of workers and indications for practice
- Building good working relationships with traumatised clients
- Cross-cultural considerations, and
- The Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania and Phoenix Centre services
Who should attend?
This training is suitable for those who work with people from a refugee or asylum seeker background and are in a position where counselling is an incidental part of the role e.g in settlement, youth work, case work, housing, employment, welfare, health, or community services.
Please note:
It is strongly recommended that interested participants complete the Cultural Awareness Training workshop prior to this workshop. The foundational knowledge and understandings gained in that training will provide you with better grounding for this workshop.
Upcoming workshop dates:
However, young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds often face particular challenges in accessing the support and opportunities they need. Their settlement needs are distinct from adults and they commonly face additional and more complex transitions than their Australian-born counterparts.
Hosting this workshop is MYAN TAS. This workshop is guided by the National Youth Settlement Framework (NYSF) (the first of its kind in Australia), and will enable participants to respond more effectively to specific needs of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Presenters:
Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania (MRC Tas) Youth Program Team Leader, the MRC Tas Training Coordinator and young people with a lived experience of migrating to Australia, from the MYAN Tasmania Youth Advisory Group.
The workshop will:
- Cover the demographics of CALD youth in Tasmania
- Discuss the humanitarian settlement program in Tasmania
- Explore cultural identity
- Introduce the National Youth Settlement Framework
- Explore experiences of young people in the settlement journey
- Identify common challenges faced by all young people
- Improve understanding to facilitate good youth settlement through active citizenship
- Apply good practice capabilities
- Provide information on services and resources available in the Tasmanian youth sector
Participants can expect an interactive workshop, with exploration and discussion of case studies, and application of practical guides and resources. Participants will receive a copy of the National Youth Settlement Framework (NYSF) and an attendance certificate.
Who should attend this training?
People working with young people from a refugee or migrant background, including asylum seekers. Appropriate for people working within an education, health or community setting, youth sector and sports and recreation sector.
Upcoming training dates: Click here to view upcoming workshops
Cost: Full day training (up to 8 hours on the same day) is $220 (full fee) or $180 (concession)
Contact: For more information, contact Sally Thompson youth@mrctas.org.au or (03) 6221 0999.
Presenters
Each module is delivered by an experienced mental health professional and educator, a bicultural worker with a lived experience of migration to Tasmania, or a Phoenix Centre counsellor with experience working with adults and children who have experienced torture and/or trauma.
Delivery
All presentations are dynamic, encourage engagement and discussion, refer to and use case scenarios, and attendees are expected to participate in small group work and experiential learning activities.
Handouts are provided to participants.
Suitable for
This professional development is for everyone who wants to improve their knowledge and skills to work more effectively with individuals, families or communities from culturally and linguistically diverse or migrant backgrounds. Some workshops are more in-depth and appropriate for workers providing direct client care.
Venues
Training programs are delivered onsite at the MRC Tasmania offices in Glenorchy and Launceston. Individuals can register and attend independently or as supported by their workplace.
Hobart office: KGV Sports and Community Centre, Level 2, 1A Anfield Street Glenorchy TAS 7010
Launceston office: 27 Paterson Street Launceston TAS 7250
Registration
Click here to view upcoming workshops
An agency or school can request training be delivered at their workplace. The organisation can identify what would be most suitable for their staff development needs, and then contact the Training Coordinator to book training: training@mrctas.org.au
Please direct any enquiries to training@mrctas.org.au or call 03 6221 0999.
Training Program – Working with Young People from a CALD Background
In addition to the workshops offered via the Training calendar, we offer a Working with Young People from a CALD Background Training Program for service providers, such as teachers, school support staff, youth workers, etc. This offers a flexible approach to professional learning for schools and organisations that work with young people.
See below for more information on the sessions:
A summary of the Australian Migration Program will be provided. Participants should expect to increase their knowledge about skilled migration and humanitarian migration streams, and the the difference the migration experience could have on young people arriving in Tasmania.
Resources to improve inter-cultural responsiveness, including awareness of the cultural background of the families in their school community, trauma awareness and working with young people from a refugee background will be mentioned but not explored in depth.
An overview of services offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT) and the Phoenix Centre will be provided, including referral pathways.
Duration
1hr
A summary of the global trends of refugee migration will be provided; highlighting experiences of new and emerging communities arriving and living in Tasmania. The Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN) Youth National Settlement Framework and Foundation House School’s in for Refugees will be introduced.
Participants should expect to increase knowledge about pre-migration educational and trauma experiences, and the effect re-settlement may have on young people and their families arriving in Tasmania.
An overview of services offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT) and the Phoenix Centre will be provided, including referral pathways.
Duration
2hrs
Definitions and explanations of trauma will be provided, including the effect of trauma on individuals and families. The impact of trauma on young people’s learning and wellbeing and how trauma may present will be explored. A number of resources will be introduced, including: Strategies for Managing Abuse Related Trauma (START) Program, Child Development and Trauma Guide, and School’s in for Refugees.
Participants should expect to increase awareness of the effects of trauma and improve capacity to identify signs of trauma in young people.
An overview of services offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT) and the Phoenix Centre will be provided, including referral pathways.
Duration
2hrs
Strategies that support recovery will be introduced and discussed. Participants will be introduced to the Window of Tolerance concept, now commonly used to understand and describe normal brain/body reactions, especially following adversity. How to help students who are experiencing behavioural issues, and managing challenges in the classroom will be explored.
Resources including templates and tools for teachers to use, which can assist planning and change processes in the school environment will be presented. A number of resources will be introduced including: Calmer Classrooms, Making Space for Learning, School’s in for Refugees and Opening the School Gates.
Participants should expect to increase their awareness, and confidence to support recovery from trauma in young people.
An overview of services offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT) and the Phoenix Centre will be provided, including referral pathways.
Duration
2hrs
Participants should expect to increase their:
- knowledge about skilled migration and humanitarian migration streams
- understanding that the migration experience could have on young people arriving in Tasmania
- knowledge about pre-migration educational and trauma experiences
- understanding of the effect re-settlement may have on young people and their families arriving in Tasmania
- awareness of the effects of trauma
- capacity to identify signs of trauma in young people
- awareness and confidence to support recovery from trauma in young people, and
- know what services are offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT) and the Phoenix Centre, including referral pathways.
Duration
7hrs
An overview of the National Youth Settlement Framework is provided, and participants will increase understanding of settlement experiences of young people and increase capacity to identify their specific needs.
An overview of services offered by the Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania, Multicultural Youth Tasmania (MYT), including youth programs and referral pathways.
Duration
2hrs
One in four Australian young people are from a refugee or migrant background. Their engagement as active citizens in Australian society has significant and long-term benefits for each young person, their families, communities, and a diverse and socially cohesive Australia.
However, young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds often face particular challenges in accessing the support and opportunities they need. Their settlement needs are distinct from adults and they commonly face additional and more complex transitions than their Australian-born counterparts.
This workshop is guided by the National Youth Settlement Framework (NYSF) (the first of its kind in Australia), and will enable participants to respond more effectively to specific needs of young people aged 15 to 25 years of age from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Participants can expect an interactive workshop, with exploration and discussion of case studies, and application of practical guides and resources. Participants will receive a copy of the National Youth Settlement Framework (NYSF) and an attendance certificate.
Duration
7hrs
The training we provide is helpful to achieve and maintain professional knowledge requirements of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and might be considered as evidence of professional development undertaken for the purpose of renewal of teacher registration.
To request training for your staff, or schedule a professional learning day, please contact us on 03 6221 0999 or training@mrctas.org.au
Training Programs for young people from a multicultural background
MRC Tas and the Phoenix Centre have developed training programs for young people. Our training sessions are aimed toward young people from a multicultural background, however can be delivered to mixed groups of young people from the same school or same purpose/intention.
All training is delivered by two facilitators, and originally based on resources that are evidence based and developed interstate by Foundation House, Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre or the Centre for Multicultural Youth. Where possible all resources are aligned to the Australian Curriculum.
All these modules and workshops are suitable for young people aged 15 to 25 years of age.
See below for more information on the sessions:
MYT will provide two facilitators and all training resources. Each module is three hours in length, and can be delivered independent of other modules. However, the facilitators may recommend a combination of modules (e.g. deliver two modules) to adequately address learning needs.
The training is aimed at young people from all backgrounds and may be useful to strengthen cohesion, team work and innovation in the school community or amongst peers in a variety of environments. Positive Change Makers training supports young people to actively participate and to create positive change in their own community.
MYT requires:
- A room with moveable furniture and chairs
- A whiteboard
- Space to move around
- Internet and audio-visual equipment to show videos with sound
- A minimum of 10 participants
| Leadership | 3 hours |
This module explores leadership as an action that you take, rather than a role you hold, to make a positive change. We look at personal values and how they motivate our leadership influence our leadership in everyday as well as challenging situations.
| Working with Others: Building a Sense of Team | 3 hours |
This module explores how we work with others to make a positive change and highlights the need to build positive relationships through exploring individual styles, decision-making processes and building a sense of group with clarity of purpose.
| Culture and Bias | 3 hours |
This module explores the visible and invisible parts of our culture, its influences and how it affects our multiple identities. Secondly, we explore the way our unconscious bias influences how we understand and interact with the world around us.
| Project Management | 3 hours |
This session provides participants with practical tools and strategies through interactive activities to explore the five stages of project management – scoping, planning, promotion, delivery and evaluation.
| Youth Facilitation | 3 hours |
This module explores theoretical concepts of facilitation, the importance of creating a holding environment, experiential learning as a tool to facilitate discussions as well as opportunities to practice facilitating activities and receive feedback from the group.
| Working with Others: Thriving through Challenge | 3 hours |
This module explores how to deal with and overcome conflict when working with others. It further explores how our individual styles and approaches influence how we interact with others and how other people’s individual styles impact us. An extension of this module includes empathy in conflict resolution and a win-win resolution to thrive and perform after normal challenges we face when working in groups.
| Active Citizenship | 3 hours |
This module provides participants with an understanding of what is active citizenship and how to be an active citizen. We discuss why young people’s voices are important in public discussions through case studies and highlighting issues important to participants. It explores both informal and formal active citizenship on a spectrum from enrolling to vote and voting on Election Day to volunteering and online advocacy tools.
| Social Media for Advocacy | 3 hours |
This module explores how to use social media as an effective tool for advocacy through defining and refining the message you want the public to hear and applying the Social Media Strategy for Change resource to your advocacy issue.
| Storytelling | 3 hours |
This module explores the use of storytelling as a leadership action and advocacy tool to create positive change. The session uses a number of activities to refine a story to create impact and support a key message for change.
| Public Speaking | 3 hours |
This module explores public speaking as a leadership action and advocacy tool as well as provides participants practical strategies about how to develop and perform a presentation including body language, tone of voice, understanding the needs of your audience and plenty of time for practice and feedback.
Cost
Positive Change Makers is a fee for service training program. Please contact youth@mrctas.org.au for more information or to book a session.
Content for each unit is drawn from Healthwize – Health literacy teaching resource for refugees and other EAL students (produced by The Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture), and BRiTA Futures Resiliency Building Program (developed by the Queensland Transcultural Mental Health Centre). Content is delivered in a way that is appropriate for English as an Additional Language (EAL) students.
The Phoenix Centre recognises migrants come to Tasmania from many countries and cultures, yet share many common experiences. Conflict, persecution and fear have compelled people from refugee backgrounds to leave their homes and countries. They have endured great loss, deprivation and uncertainty, and it is quite likely that their health and education needs to have not been addressed for long periods of time.
Regardless of their school experience, all children and young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds will have little knowledge of the support systems that are available to them in Tasmania, our understanding and treatment models for health, and may not know where to turn for advice.
These workshops aim to improve health literacy, reduce stigma, build group connections, improve help seeking behaviour, improve self-care behaviour, and introduce young people to services provided by MRC Tas, Phoenix Centre and other relevant services/organisations.
The Phoenix Centre will provide two facilitators and all training resources. Each unit is up to two hours in length, and is recommended to be delivered as a series and sequentially. However, the facilitators may discuss learning needs of groups and adjust according to requirements.
The Phoenix Centre requires:
- A room with moveable furniture and chairs
- A whiteboard
- Space to move around
- Internet and audio-visual equipment to show videos with sound
- A minimum of 10 participants
| Unit 1: What is health? | 2 hours |
This unit aims to enhance awareness of physical, emotional and social health so people feel able to gain a sense of control and adapt to change. The concepts of health, healthy behaviour and unhealthy behaviour is explored.
| Unit 2: Changing Cultures? | 2 hours |
This unit helps participants recognise the positive aspects of change and to be aware of factors and behaviours that can make change positive. Participants can expect to explore how change can bring feelings of loss that may affect our health and sense of wellbeing.
| Unit 3: Feelings and Emotions | 2 hours |
This unit aims to help participants recognise and name the emotions that we feel, to recognise what causes emotions and how they can affect us. How emotions impact on our bodies, and where we feel emotions in our bodies is explored. Coping strategies that can be used will also be examined and discussed.
| Unit 4: Making friends and connections | 2 hours |
This unit helps participants recognise that friends are an important source of emotional and practical support, that friendships take time to develop and need nurturing, and that friendships can change as circumstances change. How we can be open to friendships through our body language and through being friendly is explored, and how it is possible to have different kinds of friends connected with different parts of our life is also examined.
| Unit 5: How can I change the way I feel? | 2 hours |
This unit helps participants understand the causes of stress and the impact stress can have on our minds and bodies. Participants will be able to recognise positive coping strategies that they can use to help themselves feel better when feeling distressed, and to distinguish between helpful and unhelpful coping strategies. The concepts of recognising that we can’t change events but we can change the way we think about them will also be explored.
| Unit 6: I have a problem | 2 hours |
This unit helps participants recognise when we need help with a health problem, as there are benefits in identifying and fixing a problem at an early stage. Participants will understand that it is important to talk to someone about a problem even if the problem seems small, and to identify people who they can talk to about problems.
| Unit 7: Healthy Relationships | 2 hours |
This unit explores ways in which we are influenced by family patterns of communication and family traditions; build strategies for establishing peer networks across cultures, and learn about ‘community’ and finding one’s place.
| Unit 8: Stigma Reduction | 2 hours |
This unit helps participants to recognise and understand stigma; to build on and use strengths that exist in their own communities to improve how they can deal with stigma and mental health issues. It helps participants identify and use different traditions, ways of thinking, and strategies which can help people deal with stigma and mental health issues.
Child Safety
Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania is committed to child safety. We are committed to promoting and protecting the interests and safety of children and this is reflected in our organisational policies, protocols and staff development. All staff and volunteers are registered to work with vulnerable people in Tasmania (RWVP).
To request training for young people, please contact us on 03 6221 0999 or training@mrctas.org.au