A conversation with Cathy He – Community Engagement Officer
"It’s important to let young people decide what they really want. Young people have different identities and are dealing with different things in life. It’s not up to us to tell them what’s important because they might have different priorities.
"For example, we might think sexual health is the most important, but a young person might be struggling with finances and so sexual health isn’t the most important thing to them. So it’s important to be empathetic and understand their diverse needs. Community members are the experts to teach us how to engage with them. Don’t be afraid to admit that you were wrong."
Tell me a little about your role.
I’m a Multicultural Health & Support Service (MHSS) Community Engagement & Project Officer, MHSS is part of the Centre for Culture, Ethnicity and Health.
We work with migrant and refugee communities and run educational sessions for them, talking about things like sexual health and STIs.
As someone who has migrated from China, what are some of the biggest differences you have noticed in Australia in terms of healthcare and sexual health?
In China young people never talk about sexual and reproductive health, there’s no education about it. It’s up to the parents to help you understand as you grow up. Before I came here I’d never heard it spoken about in public.
The healthcare system is really different in China, when I came to Australia I didn’t know what a GP (General Practitioner) was because they don’t have them in China, if you feel sick you just go to the hospital. In Australia, the first place you go is to the GP for a referral.
What are the biggest challenges that the communities you work with experience?
The first thing is language barriers. Many people might feel embarrassed about asking for an interpreter.
Also navigating the healthcare system is really different. That’s especially hard for people who aren’t fluent in English or who don’t have a driver’s license.
It can also be really hard to find a good doctor, especially now that it’s getting more and more expensive because there’s less bulk billing.
How do you think we could improve SRH healthcare access for migrant communities?
We need to do things like raising health professionals’ awareness and skills on culturally sensitive practice and removing barriers for people with culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds to access the system.
We need more community education to promote health, reduce stigma and discrimination, and involve more bicultural/bilingual workers to engage with different communities.
What kind of considerations are important when working with young people from diverse backgrounds?
Don’t hold any assumptions when approaching the communities.
Communicate and always ask questions. It’s important to let young people decide what they really want. Young people have different identities and are dealing with different things in life. It’s not up to us to tell them what’s important because they might have different priorities. For example, we might think sexual health is the most important, but a young person might be struggling with finances and so sexual health isn’t the most important thing to them. So it’s important to be empathetic and understand their diverse needs. Community members are the experts to teach us how to engage with them. Don’t be afraid to admit that you were wrong.
Take time to build up relationships with community members and young people. It’s good to have rapport which helps young people to be more comfortable and to talk about sensitive topics. We recently did a sexual health session at a school where lots of the young people were Muslim, so you need to be sensitive to different religious beliefs. Our colleague said this information might not be relevant for all of you, but it’s good to have this information. That might be for the future, for after marriage, or for friends. So even though the information might not always be relevant for every person at that moment, it’s still important and useful for them to know.
What’s something you’ve learned from migrant and refugee young people that’s had a positive impact on you/informed the way you work?
One of the most important things is don’t have any assumptions when you work with communities. All communities are different and it’s important to focus on the people or person in front of you.
Lots of the time they share their knowledge with me and tell me of experiences I’ve never heard about before.
Communities are also very strong. For example, I had a session with caregivers who are looking after children with disabilities. They were looking after their kids and themselves and they have so much strength and don’t consider themselves “vulnerable.”
It’s really important to understand that communities are able to advocate and empower themselves.
That’s why when we have education sessions we need to provide them with information so they can be informed, rather than try to make any decisions for them, because they have the power to do that for themselves.
What does Taking Up Space mean to you?
I think Taking Up Space means you create a safe space for people to speak, to be seen for who they really are, and to be heard.
Taking up space at work means that we create a space for everyone. We help them to understand their strengths and we stand back and support them, and they can take up space any way they want.
