Building Trusting Relationships with African & CALD Clients

Practical cultural safety and sensitivity training for practitioners and organisations working with African and other culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Delivered by Odia (Patience) Diessa, an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with over 20 years' experience in mental health, disability and behaviour support, and direct lived experience within African and CALD communities. This training moves beyond generic cultural awareness content to give practitioners real, usable skills for the clients they're already seeing.

Who Should Attend

Mental health practitioners, Support Coordinators, allied health professionals, community services staff, and government and non-government organisation teams working with African and CALD clients.

What's Covered

  • Understanding cultural safety when working with African and CALD clients

  • How mental health is understood differently across cultures, including religious and cultural belief systems, and the perception of therapy as a sign of weakness

  • Real barriers to accessing mental health support cultural differences, stereotyping and discrimination, non-verbal communication barriers, and trauma-related and environmental factors

  • Practical language and communication assessment skills, open-ended questioning, reading non-verbal cues, recognising when family members are speaking on a client's behalf, and knowing when an interpreter is genuinely needed

  • Practical strategies for building trust, effective communication, and reducing stigma

Delivery

In-person or via telehealth, tailored to your organisation's actual caseload and context. Available as a single session or an ongoing series with follow-up clinical supervision.

Why IHS

Built on genuine lived experience and active community relationships, not a generic national curriculum. This training complements and does not replace Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety training from Indigenous-led providers. It ends with an ongoing local relationship, not just a certificate.