AASW National Workshop for Social Workers: Mental Health in CaLD Families with Michael Elwan

I will be facilitating a workshop on mental health in CaLD families, hosted by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), the peak professional body for social workers in Australia.

The workshop, Across Generations: Practical Tools for Mental Health Conversations in CaLD Families (FPS), is scheduled for 26 May 2026 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm [GMT+10] and is listed by AASW as a 3-hour professional development session in Mental Health, under Category 2: Skills and Knowledge.

This matters to me because social workers do not need more vague talk about “being culturally sensitive”. They need practical tools for real conversations inside real families; especially when culture, migration, silence, intergenerational tension, and mental health challenges are all present at once.

That is the purpose of this workshop. It is designed to help social workers open safer, more culturally grounded conversations in families where mental health is often felt deeply but spoken about carefully, indirectly, or not at all.

Why this AASW workshop matters

When people talk about mental health in CaLD families, the conversation often stops at stigma. That is too simplistic. Silence in families is rarely just denial. Sometimes it protects dignity. Sometimes it protects parental authority. Sometimes it protects younger family members from being seen as disrespectful, weak, or ungrateful. Sometimes it protects the whole family from shame.

But protection can come at a cost.

What remains unspoken can turn into distance, misunderstanding, conflict, emotional loneliness, or a quiet breakdown in family trust. One generation may speak through duty, sacrifice, and survival. Another may speak through identity, emotional safety, and self-understanding. Both may care deeply; both may still miss each other.

Social workers are often asked to step into that gap without enough guidance on how to do it well. This workshop is my response to that problem.

Mental health in CaLD families across generations

In this workshop, I am not approaching culture as a checklist. I am approaching families as shaped by migration histories, grief, race, faith, class, gender, family roles, and uneven exposure to Australian systems and language.

That changes practice.

A young person’s withdrawal may be read by a parent as disrespect when it is actually overload. A parent’s control may be read by a young person as domination when it is partly fear. A family’s silence may look like avoidance when it is also functioning as protection. If social workers rush these meanings, they often deepen the rupture rather than helping repair it.

So the task is not just to get families talking. The task is to make conversation safer, more respectful, and more useful.

What I will cover in this AASW workshop

Participants will work through lived experience stories, case studies, role plays, culturally safe questioning, reframing strategies, and identity-affirming communication. Participants will also learn practical approaches to reduce stigma, strengthen belonging, and support families to bridge generational divides.

That is exactly where I want the focus to sit; not on theory alone, but on the language and methods social workers can actually use.

We will look at how to ask better questions without sounding intrusive or culturally blunt. We will look at how to reframe tension so that one person is not simply positioned as the problem. We will also look at how identity, culture, and belonging can be honoured without romanticising family dynamics or ignoring harm.

FPS-informed practice for social workers

This workshop includes FPS-linked skills training, with learning outcomes that include psychoeducation, CBT reframing, and narrative approaches in case scenarios and role plays reflecting CaLD family realities.

That matters because social workers often need more than cultural awareness. They need structured, practice-ready approaches that can hold both clinical usefulness and cultural humility.

My aim in facilitating this session is to help practitioners leave with sharper judgement, stronger language, and at least one clear shift they can make in their own practice.

Who should attend

The workshop is suitable for social workers and practitioners supporting CaLD families across mental health, child protection, family services, and education. The session is designed for both evolving and established practitioners, and no prior specialist knowledge is required.

So this is not a niche workshop for a tiny corner of the profession. It is relevant to any social worker trying to reduce stigma, strengthen family cohesion, and navigate intergenerational conversations with more skill and less cultural clumsiness.

You can register here: AASW workshop registration

If you are a social worker looking for practical tools to work more confidently with mental health in CaLD families, I would be glad to have you in the room.

Based in Perth, WA, LEXs provides telehealth counselling across Australia for individuals, couples, and NDIS participants. Services extend to Social Work supervision, Peer Work supervision, training, and keynote speaking on men’s mental health, CaLD community wellbeing, and culturally responsive suicide prevention; helping people and organisations make mental-health care more compassionate, inclusive, and effective. LEXs provides services across Australia, supporting clients in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and beyond. To learn more about our work across Australia, visit LEXs' services.