Our Voices: Stories of Carers from Migrant and Refugee Backgrounds, is a beautifully crafted series of five short videos offering rare and profound insight into the lives of carers from migrant and refugee backgrounds, caring for family with mental illness.
Stories of Carers from Refugee and Migrant Backgrounds.
Each narrative is told in the carer's original language, and has been subtitled in English. Each narrative has also been voice dubbed into the five community languages, Arabic, Vietnamese, Turkish, Dari and Somali, and these videos are available on DVD from Victorian Transcultural Mental Health.
Click on the images below to watch each narrative in its original language and subtitled in English.
The films explore the lives of five carers from Afghani, Egyptian, Somali, Turkish and Vietnamese communities. The carers speak independently, yet collectively, of common difficulties encountered in advocating for culturally sensitive and culturally-responsive mental health care and the benefits of seeking support. The stories of the carers have been uniquely captured via the collaboration and support of many leading mental health, carer and multi-cultural organisations (see these below) and produced by the Australian film house, Digital Black.
VTMH would like to thank all the individual storytellers, their families and friends, the film-makers, Digital Black, support workers and everyone who contributed to the making of this extraordinary project. The participants and organisers hope it encourages people to seek support and to share their experiences.
Mr Ly
Mr Ly came to Australia by boat in 1980. He and his wife have been caring for their son full time since 2001 with the help of a Vietnamese carer support group. Vietnamese with English subtitles.
Kevser
Kevser has been the primary carer for her daughter for many years. Joining a carer support group gave her the courage to negotiate the stigma attached to her daughter's illness. Turkish with English subtitles.
Amina's brother was diagnosed with a mental illness soon after arriving in Australia. Amina is a social worker, works with her community and explores negative perceptions about mental illness. Somali with English subtitles.
Said is an engineer and an accredited interpreter. He works as carer consultant and is passionate about advocating for the needs of carers. Arabic with English subtitles.
Arefa
Arefa is from Afghanistan and talks about her experience in caring for her father was diagnosed with anxiety/depression. Dari with English subtitles.
Ordering a copy of the DVD
A limited number of hard copies of the DVDs were produced to coincide with the launch of this resource in October 2014. Hard copies of the DVD series, complete with an information kit about the project, can be requested. Expressions of interest will also help identify demand and potential for pursuing options for further print runs. You can register your interest in ordering hard copy of the DVDs by clicking the button below.
Register your Interest Here
BACK TO VTMH STORIES