Culturally Responsive Health Services
Helping health services deliver safer, more accessible care for all communities
The Centre for Culture, Equity & Health (CEH) strengthens cultural competence in health care – helping services deliver equitable, person-centred care, engage diverse clients with confidence and address bias to improve health outcomes.
We can support you to deliver culturally safe care that meets the needs of diverse communities through:
- Cultural competence training for staff and clinicians
- Consultancy on service models, policies, and community engagement
- Collaborative projects that reduce health inequities for migrant and refugee communities
- Development of CALD and multicultural inclusion initiatives and resources
- Tailored support to make meeting DEI goals for staff and clients simple.
What our clients say
“As part of Brisbane North PHN’s continuous quality improvement initiatives, CEH’s cultural competency online course was strategically utilised to enhance the capacity of local general practices in delivering culturally responsive healthcare.
The course provided an accessible, flexible learning opportunity for practice staff to deepen their understanding of cultural diversity, health equity, and inclusive communication strategies.
Over 280 individual course completions were recorded across 65 general practices, demonstrating strong engagement and a collective commitment to professional development in this area.”
Our Experience
Supporting equitable commissioning of culturally responsive health services
In 2025, CEH developed a practical toolkit to support Primary Health Networks (PHNs) to commission culturally responsive health services in a fair and equitable way. Multicultural communities are often under‑represented in health planning, requiring targeted approaches to ensure community needs are identified and voices are included in decision‑making.
The toolkit provides clear, step‑by‑step guidance to support PHNs to assess community needs, co‑design services, implement equitable procurement processes, monitor outcomes and engage effectively with community and grassroots organisations.
By using the toolkit, PHNs can strengthen equity and accessibility in service delivery and ensure commissioned services respond to the cultural and linguistic diversity of the populations they serve.
Flexible training designed for healthcare workforces
CEH has a strong foundation in the health sector and delivers ongoing training to a broad range of health organisations across Australia.
In 2024, we developed a blended learning package for Dementia Australia, combining webinars and eLearning modules. This approach supported participants to build a foundational understanding of cultural diversity and apply culturally appropriate approaches to dementia support and service delivery.
Since 2019, CEH has also provided self‑paced eLearning courses to Brisbane South Primary Health Network (BSPHN), complemented by a series of online health literacy workshops. Each workshop was adapted in response to PHN feedback, local priorities and emerging workforce needs, ensuring content remained relevant and practical. Training was delivered in flexible formats, including after‑hours sessions, to accommodate the time pressures faced by clinicians and health workers.
We continue to provide flexible training options to Primary Health Networks, Primary Health Units, public and private hospitals, community health services, NDIS providers and illness‑specific health organisations nationwide. More recently, we have supported cancer support and mental health services to strengthen cultural competence and effective interpreter use in clinical and client‑facing settings.
Find out more about our services
We can work with you through multiple streams:
Organisational Training: Tailored programs to enhance the cultural competence and inclusive practice of your staff and clinicians.
Cultural Consultancy: Guidance on service models, policies, and community engagement.
Collaborative Projects: Partnering with health service providers to create projects that improve the accessibility of care and equitable outcomes.
Community Engagement & Education: Community partnerships, workforce education and health promotion activities, tailored to support prevention of STIs, HIV, blood‑borne viruses and viral hepatitis in migrant and refugee communities.
Resource Development: Practical tools and guides to embed cultural competence in practice.
Health Translations Library: Free online library of high-quality translated Australian health and wellbeing information, available in over 130 languages.
Cultural Competence Assessments: Access to online tools to support your service to identify strengths and gaps in cultural competence. The tools provide you with a personalised PDF report with scoring, so you can benchmark and track your progress.
Diversity Links Victoria – CEH’s free online directory: This directory brings together, in one place, links to bilingual workers, ethno-specific organisations, multicultural services, advocacy groups, and data sources across Victoria’s health, disability, and community sectors.
