Bilingual professionals in community mental health services

Objective: This paper presents results from research that explored the roles of bilingual professionals in community mental health services in the Sydney metropolitan area of New South Wales. There were two main objectives to the research: (i) to identify and describe the roles of bilingual professionals that are important in improving the quality of community mental health services for clients from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB); and (ii) to identify and describe the factors that facilitate and inhibit the conduct of these roles.Method: Data collection involved indepth interviews with bilingual professionals and team leaders in community mental health services and various other community health services; and various staff responsible for policy and service development with regard to cultural diversity.Results: Bilingual mental health workers were found to have at least four critical roles. These were (i) direct clinical service provision to NESB clients; (ii) mental health promotion and communit...