Cultural Diversity – Read the Label!

Language Forum & Report

The use of labels within the social impact sector, specifically the mental health sector, has been long contested. Whilst the focus has been on what to call whom and when – deeper conversations about these important considerations have seldom been had in the development of this work. And so, when our communities called for us to come together and start an ongoing conversation about exactly this, we saw it as an opportunity to start a broader dialogue that had direct input from the very communities that we are seeking to define. 

Solis – Culture & Mental Health (Solis) unites culture-oriented mental health advocates and professionals, as the peer and professional arm of the Australian Institute for Diversity in Mental Health (AIDMH). As interdisciplinary advocates, we address complex identity issues and culturally responsive practice. To honour collective and community-focused approaches, we initiated an annual dialogue in March 2023, on the use of labels in community. In an attempt to dismantle monolithic assumptions, we tried to focus on person-centred storytelling to dissect terms like ‘CALD’ and ‘multicultural’, among others. The report summarises our findings in light of a number of other recent reports and projects exploring similar concepts around the need for nuanced labels to empower cultural identities, and to drive ongoing discussions to amplify underrepresented voices and drive sector evolution. We sought to centre the notion that we need to understand labelling’s purpose. We want to prioritise community comprehension over labels, in order to foster meaningful discussions.

The following questions were posed to participants, and explored in this report: 

• How do these terms relate to you or your communities? 
• How do you think governments, organisations or other groups define our cultural communities? Is this the same or different to the ways in which we name ourselves? 
• How do you think we should measure culture? 

A broad variety of community feelings were explored such as: themes on labels, inclusion/exclusion, and in varied contexts, culture’s complexity, power dynamics, the fluidity of cultural identity, systemic challenges and practicality and acknowledgement of privilege. Intersectionality, culture beyond countries/languages. funding’s focus, alternative terms, comprehensive understanding and purposeful data collection were all also raised. 

A number of practical recommendations for the sector are summarised in light of implications for research and policy being put forward. In acknowledging that this is just the beginning of the conversation, we hope that the process, content and themes arising from our Language Forum prompt an opportunity to critically and meaningfully reflect on how we define ourselves and broader diverse communities to work towards a more intersectional and inclusive mental wellbeing sector and society.

You can download the pdf version of the full report below – and please get in touch with us if you’d like to hear more about this project 🙂