BCNA Cultural Diversity Program

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Mikayla Rose
Mikayla Rose Member Posts: 5
edited October 2016 in Community news and events

Hello everyone!

Here at BCNA we are excited to have been busily working on the development of our new Cultural Diversity strategy. This is an exciting area of work for us through which we hope to improve access to appropriate information and support for women with breast cancer from diverse cultural backgrounds.

We are currently developing a number of projects for women from Italian, Greek, Chinese, Vietnamese and Arabic communities. A major initiative we are currently working on is the development of a series of resources in plain English which will then be translated into the five priority languages.

We want to consult with women from these language groups to ensure that the new resources are relevant and culturally appropriate.

To do this we are conducting focus groups in each of the five languages (these will be conducted in Melbourne and Sydney only).

If you are from one of these communities and you speak and / or read one of the languages or if you know of someone who may be interested in being involved, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

Enjoy the weekend.
Mikayla

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  • saxyjo
    saxyjo Member Posts: 3
    edited March 2015
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    Hi Mikayla,

    I am a Deaf Aboriginal Lesbian, I am currently waiting on the start date of my chemo. my experience has been one of shock, confusiondue to my sexuality, race and language discrimination. I am glad to hear that you are starting on a Cultural Diversity Program, something I am extermely familar with as an advocate, counsellor and consultant. But I ask BCNA if they can please give me details of any Deaf (Auslan) or Aboriginal (Indigneous) contacts to help me with my journey? If not would BCNA be interested to meet with me so something is developed from a community woman's perspective and done with strong cultural sensititivies.... please let me know if that is possible because I can't find anything that is appropriate for me.

    Kind regards,
    saxyjo

  • saxyjo
    saxyjo Member Posts: 3
    edited March 2015
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    Hi Mikayla,

    I am a Deaf Aboriginal Lesbian, I am currently waiting on the start date of my chemo. my experience has been one of shock, confusiondue to my sexuality, race and language discrimination. I am glad to hear that you are starting on a Cultural Diversity Program, something I am extermely familar with as an advocate, counsellor and consultant. But I ask BCNA if they can please give me details of any Deaf (Auslan) or Aboriginal (Indigneous) contacts to help me with my journey? If not would BCNA be interested to meet with me so something is developed from a community woman's perspective and done with strong cultural sensititivies.... please let me know if that is possible because I can't find anything that is appropriate for me.

    Kind regards,
    saxyjo

  • Mikayla Rose
    Mikayla Rose Member Posts: 5
    edited March 2015
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    Thanks for sharing your experience with us Saxyjo. It seems that you have a few challenges that you are facing at the moment. I wish you all the best and hope that you are able to find good support to help you get through your treatment. You may well find that the online network is a great avenue for you to link in with other women with breast cancer where you can chat with women from a diverse range of backgrounds.

    Our Cultural Diversity program is very new. It has been planned based on research that we did in 2012 where we identified the areas of greatest need amongst women from diverse cultural backgrounds. There is also a strong need for information and support specifically for Aboriginal women with breast cancer. This is an area that we will investigate in more detail in the future.

    You may be able to access more information from Cancer Australia. They have a new unit within their Aboriginal Health Worker training called: 'Providing Information and Support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with breast cancer'. They may be able to put you in contact with an Aboriginal Health Worker who has completed the training.

    Cancer Australia are also currently funding a Cancer Council Victoria project: Having Yarn - Supporting Aboriginal Communities affected by Cancer. However this is not breast cancer specific. You might like to contact them to see if they have more specific programs that they can suggest for you.

    There is also a fabulous site and DVD, produced by Bosom Buddies NT that you can watch here (I believe it has subtitles): http://listenyouwomen.com/

    I hope that this information will lead you onto something or a program that is really helpful for you Saxyjo, I am sorry I could not be more specific.

    I wish you all the best.

    Mikayla

  • Hailin Cheng
    Hailin Cheng Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2015
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    Hi Mikayla,

    I am chinese and can read/write and speck mandarin, please let me know if anything I can help, 

    Hai Lin Cheng 

    Registered Lymphoedema Therapist

  • Hailin Cheng
    Hailin Cheng Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2015
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    Hi Mikayla,

    I am chinese and can read/write and speck mandarin, please let me know if anything I can help, 

    Hai Lin Cheng 

    Registered Lymphoedema Therapist

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