The power of co-design: Dari podcast supports the mental wellbeing of Afghans
The podcast explores the challenges people face at various stages in their lives, provides practical evidence-based advice and highlights the many supports available in the community.
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Every day, all over the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life. This can be even more challenging when they don’t have a choice and must flee.
Nearly one in four people living in south east Melbourne are born overseas and over 200 languages are spoken in our diverse community. Over the past few years, SEMPHN and Monash Health's Refugee and Wellbeing Team have assisted more than 720 Afghan refugees by coordinating their health care to help them settle in south east Melbourne. There is a well-established and growing Afghan community in our catchment, particularly within the Cities of Casey and Greater Dandenong.
Despite the struggles faced by Afghan migrants and refugees, the community remains largely unfamiliar with the concept of mental wellbeing.
“In the Afghan community, mental health is not very popular. As a refugee, people think if you feel stressed, nervous, sad, don’t like to talk to people and don’t feel good, it’s normal."
Mirwais, Bicultural Program worker from Southern Migrant Resource Centre (SMRC)
Mirwais migrated from Afghanistan to Pakistan in 1996 when the Taliban seized the capital Kabul, and after 20 years migrated to Australia in 2018.
To explain mental health and wellbeing issues in a way that makes sense for people from Afghanistan as they settle into life in Australia, the Southern Migrant Resource Centre (SMRC) worked alongside Dari speaking people, as well as Better Place Australia and SEMPHN, to co-design a conversational podcast series.
The Healthy Mind, Healthy Life podcast series delivered in Dari, draws on learnings from SMRC’s 30-year history of working with migrants and refugees, SEMPHN’s expertise in commissioning tailored health care and Better Place Australia’s clinical experience through delivery of evidence-informed suicide prevention initiatives.
It explores the challenges people face at various stages in their lives, provides practical evidence-based advice and highlights the many supports available in the community. Each episode involves diverse community leaders and role models, psychologists, religious scholars and community workers sharing their experience and expertise.
Stana Cubra, Manager of Youth Mental Health & Suicide Prevention at SEMPHN says the podcast enables equal access to important information to help people live well.
“Uprooting your life and settling in a new country is a significant change that brings many layers of uncertainty. Having a safe space to understand and talk about mental health challenges in your language is paramount to living a healthy life.“
Stana Cubra, Manager of Youth Mental Health & Suicide Prevention at SEMPHN
Mirwais oversaw the development of the podcast and found it was useful for his own mental health.
“To mention and learn about mental health was very new to me. Through the podcast, I learnt the meaning of mental health, to be open about my mental health and not be shameful about it. I think people will benefit from it and feel safer in sharing their own stories.”
To-date the six podcast episodes have had 213 listens and received positive feedback from the broader Afghan community.
The Healthy Mind, Healthy Life podcast series is free to listen to on Spotify, Anchor FM, Apple Music.
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