To address the need for regional coordination, enliven established the South East Melbourne Refugee and Asylum Seeker Health Alliance in 2015. The Alliance’s purposes are:

  • To meet to coordinate effort, strengthen partnerships and share information on issues relating to the physical, mental and social health of people of refugee and asylum seeker background with a focus on the City of Greater Dandenong, City of Casey and Cardinia Shire;
  • To develop and progress a collaborative work plan of priority issues.

Alliance membership includes the following health, settlement, humanitarian, torture and trauma, social welfare, Local Government, State Government, Commonwealth Government, academic and community agencies

  • enliven (chair)
  • Monash Health
  • Link Health and Community
  • South Eastern Melbourne PHN
  • General Practice clinics
  • Foundation House, Dandenong
  • Victorian Refugee Health Network
  • Eastern Region Mental Health Association
  • Headspace
  • Women’s Health in the South East
  • AMES Australia
  • Red Cross
  • Life Without Barriers
  • South East Community Links
  • CatholicCare
  • Southern Migrant and Refugee Centre
  • Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Dandenong
  • City of Greater Dandenong
  • City of Casey
  • Cardinia Shire
  • Victorian Department of Health and Human Services, South Division
  • Commonwealth Government Department of Human Services
  • Monash University
  • Community

The Alliance has met every two months and has formed associated task groups to address issues of common concern including:

  • Responding to the increase in Syrian and Iraqi refugee settlement
  • Understanding refugee and asylum seeker visa types and access to health services
  • Improving pathways to physical and mental health care and other services and programs
  • Engaging and strengthening ethnic communities for health literacy and social cohesion
  • Building primary care provider capacity to respond to refugee and asylum seeker clients
  • Supporting research to improve health care delivery
  • Suicide prevention.

Partnership evaluation has shown the Alliance is a valuable and effective way of coordinating effort and progressing collaborative issues in the region.