The Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, in collaboration with the inter-disciplinary Melbourne Refugee Studies Program, is proposing to develop a fully online Master of Global and Cultural Mental Health program.
The online Master of Global and Cultural Mental Health will focus on the political, economic, social and cultural determinants of mental health and illness, and on development, monitoring and evaluation of mental health and social care systems that protect the human rights of vulnerable populations and are effective, equitable and sustainable. The vulnerable populations that will be the core focus of the program include individuals and communities in low and middle-income countries with insufficiently developed mental health and social care systems, communities affected by conflict or natural disaster, immigrant communities in countries of re-settlement, and asylum seekers and refugees who are in transit, in refugee camps, in immigration detention settings, or in the process of re-settlement in destination countries. It will be possible for students particularly interested in asylum seeker and refugee mental health to take an elective stream focusing on these populations.
The elective streams will also allow students to focus on professional practice or research, or to combine professional practice and research components of the program.
The program will be suitable for students from diverse professional and disciplinary backgrounds and will prepare graduates for a wide variety of careers (e.g. in mental health system development and reform, mental health and social service provision, response to conflict and disaster, response to the global refugee crisis), with employment opportunities in a similarly wide variety of agencies (e.g. UN agencies, government departments, health and social service agencies, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies, philanthropic organisations, international and local NGOs, civil society organisations).
Graduates of the program will have the knowledge and skills necessary to contribute to ensuring that attention to mental health, particularly in vulnerable populations, is an important part of the UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, which is relevant to low- and middle-income countries and to high-income countries where insufficient attention is being paid to mental health of, and mental health services for, marginalised cultural minorities.
The Master degree will be a 150 points program, equivalent in course content and study load to a 1.5 years full time on-campus degree. This will be an articulated program with several exit points depending on students interests. These will be:
1. Master of Global and Cultural Mental Health (150 points, equivalent to 1.5 years of full time study)
2. Graduate Diploma in Global and Cultural Mental Health (100 points, equivalent to 1 year full time study)
3. Graduate Certificate in Global and Cultural Mental Health (50 points, equivalent to 6 months full time study)
4. Professional Certificate in Global and Cultural Mental Health (25 points, equivalent to 3 months full time study)
Prior to undertaking the development of the program, which we anticipate will be offered in 2018, we wish to explore the level of interest in undertaking the proposed program and to give those who may be interested the opportunity to register interest and receive updates on progress in the development of the program. We invite you to answer a few questions and to give us your comments and, if you wish, to register for updates.
Harry Minas
Head, Global and Cultural Mental Health Unit and Director, Melbourne Refugee Studies Program
The University of Melbourne
