Sometimes the only people that know what a carer is going through is another carer facing the same burdens, the same challenges.

In Australia’s multicultural community, often people with disability or those caring for them have an added burden, as they are battling language and culture barriers.

With ADEC Greek Carers Group proposed to take off this October in Melbourne’s western suburb of Werribee, in the City of Wyndham, carers of Greek background will have the opportunity to share their experiences and support, and learn from one another in a group setting.

A not-for-profit organisation, ADEC (Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities) strives to empower people living with disabilities from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD), their carers and families to fully participate as members of the Victorian community, and to ensure that service systems are inclusive and responsive to their needs.

And Effie Meehan knows best the importance of assistance for people with disability and their carers within ethnic communities, the need of which inspired her to found ADEC in the early 1980s.

Greek Australian Effie Meehan, one of ADEC’s most prominent ambassadors and facilitator of Greek groups, told Neos Kosmos the proposal for the
Greek Carers Group in the western suburbs comes after a successful 10 year running of a first of its kind group in Preston.

With support from the City of Wyndham council that will provide the location, the Werribee group is expected to take off in late October.

“There is a need for these groups in Werribee, with its large Greek – and Italian – community.

“Our group in Preston arose from six and ten members, to 18-30 carers that attend the sessions now. We go out once a month, another month we have sessions that always feature a guest speaker, and the carers love it. They are looking forward every month to the next meeting of the group,” Effie told Neos Kosmos.

“These groups are very important because these carers often can’t go out at all as they look after someone with disability, and also they can’t speak English. When they come to the group, they have common things and experiences to share – they talk, they laugh, they cry together.
“I would like to encourage all the Greek carers from the Wyndham area to join us.”

ADEC have been providing assistance to people living with a disability and their carers from CALD backgrounds for over thirty years. Some of the services they provide include advocacy, multicultural respite, group activities, EAL training and transcultural mental health assistance. The goal of ADEC’s Transcultural Mental Health Access Program is to improve access to mental health services for people from CALD backgrounds.

The information session date for the Greek Carers Group in Wyndham will be held on Wednesday 22 October, from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm, at the Civic Centre, 45 Princes Highway, Werribee.

Detailed information about the work that ADEC undertakes can be found at www.adec.org.au

For more information about Greek Carers Groups contact ADEC on 03 9480 1666 or info@adec.org.au