Multicultural Services

Funded by the Office of Multicultural Affairs, this program aims to make migrant integration faster leading to positive employment outcomes.

The classroom sessions involved activity-based learning where the participants were coached to build their personal brand and made to independently talk about their personal branding. The participants learnt how to create their resumes and cover letters for specific job applications and picked up skills in answering interview questions. Role plays were conducted among participants to understand face-to-face interviews and to practice speaking at interviews. Common errors were corrected, and suggestions were made to improve quality of responses and on how to win an interview.

A holistic understanding of Australian qualifications and Australian workplace culture was given to the participants and suggestions were made on courses to study or jobs that are in demand. Questions regarding these topics were answered keeping in mind the multicultural workforce of Australia and how the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse people can fit into the ever changing and demanding job roles. The participants understood how Northern Territory and the city of Darwin is different from other cities in Australia and the importance effective networking, developing self-confidence, interview preparations, entrepreneurship, volunteering, etc.

The participants were given to understand Fair Work and the basic work rights for migrants. Practical insights were given, and myth busters videos were played to them to give a holistic understanding of work rights.

On the completion of the classroom session, participants were put on to a virtual “Cultural Competence” training conducted by SBS. This training provides valuable insights into the Australian work culture and practices, cultural diversity, unconscious bias and how to avoid them, embracing culture change and settling in a workplace that is linguistically and culturally diverse.

We are a social change organisation working to build a just society where all people can live to their full potential.

We partner with community to support those most in need work to change policies, practices, ideas and values that perpetuate inequality, prejudice and exclusion.

We provide supports, and help all people to flourish through our action and advocacy in:

• Education, training & employment
• Just Places
• Disability, mental health & wellbeing
• Housing & support
• Justice & reconciliation
• Policy, research & advocacy
• Community & connection

This program was developed by the Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma, to support survivors of torture and trauma by providing specialised services to improve their emotional and mental wellbeing. The Program is open to permanently resettled refugees and humanitarian entrants and those on temporary substantive visas living in the community, who are experiencing psychological or psychosocial difficulties related to their experience before coming to Australia. It offers a safe, professional and nurturing environment for clients to discuss their pain, deal with their grief and address their fears. Ultimately, the Program’s goal is to help clients to heal, with a focus on counselling.

Melaleuca Australia places great importance on creating workshops where families experience a supportive, nurturing and learning environment. Content is delivered in language or with interpreters present and covers a range of topics including:

• Positive parenting and care approaches
• Maintaining healthy family relationships
• Child protection
• Domestic Violence
• Managing Family Conflict
• Skills to develop respectful relationships

Health Support Services is a holistic program that enables people from refugee, humanitarian and migrant backgrounds to access specialised health and health-related services.

The program’s overall aim is to improve service delivery models by bringing together the highest quality professionals in the health field to better integrate overall services.

This initiative was launched on 30 October 2017, replacing the two existing programs of Humanitarian Settlement Services and Complex Case Support. Melaleuca Australia is proud to have been selected by the Australian Government to deliver the Program throughout the Northern Territory as one of five national Service Providers. The Program’s aim is to help people from refugee or humanitarian backgrounds to settle in Australia by working in conjunction with other settlement and mainstream services. Adopting a needs-based case management approach, the services offered ensure the highest possible level of community integration and interaction for our clients.

This program provides a wide range of support services for young people aged 12 – 21 years of age from refugee, humanitarian and migrant backgrounds who:

• have arrived in Australia in the previous five years on humanitarian and/or family visas; and
• are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Reconnect Youth aims to assist young people to stabilise their living situation and improve their level of engagement with family, work, education, training and their local community.

Melaleuca Australia has been appointed and is funded by the Department of Social Services as a Specialist Service Provider to coordinate and deliver the program.

Central to our service delivery is a strong emphasis on culturally appropriate support strategies and the engagement of specialists to address the individual needs of our clients, such as mental health services.

The Melaleuca Australia Settlement Support Services program aims to equip and empower humanitarian entrants, other eligible permanent migrants and their communities to meet their settlement needs within their first five years within Australia.

The Program provides clients with settlement-related information, advice, advocacy and assistance to access mainstream and other relevant services. The key components include:

• Facilitating acquisition of English language skills
• Supporting engagement with education and training; and
• Building employment readiness

The Elders Visiting Program provides administrative and operational support to assist Elders to visit correctional centres in Darwin and provide cultural support and mentoring to Indigenous prisoners. Support may include engaging with community corrections and reintegration staff, travel to outlying communities, and other needs as required.

Multicultural Community Services of Central Australia Incorporated (MCSCA) is a community based organisation whose aims and objectives are to deliver quality confidential services to people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

MCSCA provides the first port of call with friendly, culturally sensitive orientation and information, and ongoing activities and events to promote harmony in our community.

Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS)

The Settlement Engagement and Transition Support (SETS) program is funded by the Australian Department of Home Affairs.  The program aims to equip and empower humanitarian entrants, other eligible permanent migrants and their communities to address their settlement needs, in order to improve social participation, economic well-being, independence, personal well-being and community connectedness. The SETS program fills an important gap in the post-arrival period for eligible clients who do not have family and other community supports to rely on.

The program is complementary to the Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP) and other Commonwealth support to humanitarian entrants and for other vulnerable migrants.

SETS Client Services provides clients with settlement-related information, advice, advocacy, and assistance to access mainstream and other relevant services. Services will be delivered in accordance with a needs-based approach. Typically client needs will align with the nine priority areas identified in the National Settlement Framework.

Facilities for the Multicultural Community 

Multicultural groups and incorporated organisations can access facilities at MCSCA and within the Alice Springs Youth and Community Centre Complex at 5B Wills Terrace.

MCSCA has the following facilities:

• a computer suite with scanning and printing facilities and internet access for employment purposes
• meeting space

MCSCA organises or facilitates:

• regular ‘meet and greet’ events to welcome new members of the multicultural community who are settling in Alice Springs
• information sessions with topics of interest to the migrant and multicultural communities of Alice Springs
• seminars and workshops for multicultural groups and associations
• consultations with local, Territory and Australian Government departments on issues of concern to members of the multicultural community
• events linked to specific projects

Alice Springs Youth and Community Centre Complex has additional facilities including meeting rooms, training rooms, a large hall and facilities for community events.  Multicultural groups and incorporated associations access these facilities for a range of purposes including meetings, social gatherings, cultural dance practices, choir practices, homework tuition and language classes.

Bookings are essential.  Fees apply in most cases.  For more information about the application process and conditions of use please call us on 08 8952 8776.

SusuMama Playgroup 

This long running and much loved multicultural playgroup is facilitated by MCSCA and is run in partnership with Anglicare NT.

SusuMama playgroup is an important activity for newly arrived migrant parents and their children. It is a fundamental tool for integration in the Australian community in Alice Springs.

Susumama Playgroup enables parents and children to meet weekly in a convenient and comfortable CBD location at the Alice Springs Youth & Community Centre. This program helps families to make friends and to have fun, enjoying various hands-on activities organised by our enthusiastic and welcoming Playgroup Leader.

Susumama Playgroup is non-religious and non-denominational. All are welcome!

Guest speakers are invited to provide a variety of information sessions to parents and carers. The aim is to facilitate the integration and acceptance of women into the Australian multicultural community covering a spectrum of issues from legal, mother and child, health and mainstream services.

SusuMama Playgroup meets every Monday and Friday at the Alice Springs Youth & Community Centre from 9.30am to 11.30 am.  Please contact us for more information and to book in.

Multicultural Grant Program 

The Multicultural Grant Program provides support and assistance to the multicultural communities of Alice Springs.  The program can also assist individual people from multicultural communities who continue to need help after the initial five-year period of settlement assistance has finished.

The funding from the NT Government provides support for:

• Assistance with settling into Australian lifestyles
• Encouragement of multiculturalism in the wider community
• Encouragement of community participation
• Organisation and participation in community events
• Promotion of integrated services
• Promotion of the use of interpreters by agencies and service providers
• Helping large culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and multicultural communities to form their own incorporated associations
• Seminars and workshops on governance and organising the running of an association

Big Day Out In Harmony 

Celebrating the vibrancy of our town with community events like Harmony Day is an important part of MCSCA work, ensuring that Alice Springs is a welcoming place for all.

Harmony Day is a United Nations-recognised global celebration that began in 1999. Officially held on March 21, it coincides with the UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and has been enthusiastically embraced by MCSCA as a community celebration in Alice Springs in early May.  We call this event Big Day Out in Harmony.

MCSCA works with the Town Council to combine their resources to stage Big Day Out in Harmony on the beautiful lawns at the southern end of the Council property. The stage is set like a village green, with performance area, food and drink stalls, family-focussed activities and lots of places to sit down with old and new friends.   It is a community celebration of culture and coming together that draws hundreds through its simple message of unity and strength through sharing culture and friendship. The event can also be enjoyed by people who are unable to attend or if they are away from Alice Springs through a live broadcast by the local community radio station 8CCC 102.1FM.

Each year, MCSCA invites all the multicultural groups and associations to participate in the event, to share some of their culture with the wider community.  After months of rehearsals, it comes together on a day filled with colours, sounds, fragrances and tastes from across the world.

If you would like to be involved please contact our office on (08) 8952 8776.