Greek community the key to mental health

For Evan Bichara's family, the onset of mental illness was a complete surprise.

The Greek-Egyptian told Neos Kosmos that at the age of 19, he used to laugh and cry inappropriately, avoid socialising, and develop paranoid thoughts.

"My family were confused at the onset of my illness," he said.

"They took me to a priest to be prayed on."

Mr Bichara is now working as a mental health advocate with the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit, and he said his involvement with the Greek community was crucial to his recovery.

"We come from a culture where we believe in collectivism," he said. "So when I got ill, it wasn't just me getting ill, it was all my family working together in my recovery, it wasn't just me."

Mr Bichara has a leadership role in the Orthodox church, and has been involved in community soccer, from coaching junior clubs to becoming a referee.

The Mental Health Council of Australia says one in five people will experience mental health issues in their life, and a spokesperson told Neos Kosmos that a person's community was "possibly the most crucial factor" in combating mental illness.

"Services must be what the community needs, that's crucial," he said.

But Kaliope Paxinos, whose 49 year-old son has been living with schizophrenia for the past 25 years, said there was a general lack of understanding about mental illness in the Greek community.

"The other thing I find really worrying in the Greek community was the very high rate of stigma, and I feel angry still about that," she said.

Mrs Paxinos, 83, works part-time as a carer advocate and consultant, and she said she has seen a lot of shame.

She said that when working with one Greek family that was referred to her recently, she was "really saddened" by the family's reluctance to talk about their daughter's mental health issues.

"The mother just couldn't cope with the emotion of telling me the issues on the phone," she said.

"And the father just wouldn't tell any of his family or friends that their daughter had some issues. "They felt that they wouldn't understand; they felt that people would be critical of them, and for me, that's really very, very, very, sad, very sad," she said.

To join the Victorian Transcultural Psychiatry Unit's Spectrum of Cultures group by contacting Evan Bicharas on 0411 054 882.