Cultural Transitions: Migrant Youth and Family Stories of Belonging and Cultural Wellbeing

Young asylum seekers and refugees have reported mental health and cultural wellbeing as a significant issue affecting their lives. This study has explored cultural transitions and tensions for young people from refugee backgrounds with their families, community, and wider Australian society. A driving force of this research project was to better inform settlement service providers and policy makers of the wellbeing needs of young people and their families. It is for this reason that the Cultural Transmissions project was designed using The Cultural wellbeing Framework (CWF) as it provided way to understand the intersection of individual, community, national and global influences on young people's wellbeing. The CWF was also used to assist in the analysis of the interview data collected by peer researchers from the 50 participants. The research found that mental health, trauma, the relationship triangle between individuals, families and community, life brokering, and racism profoundly impact a young person's identity and sense of belonging. Young people who make cultural transitions due to their refugee backgrounds have more complex and difficult lives due to this process compared to young people from non-refugee backgrounds. To address these difficulties and help young people, action must be taken by communities, organisations and governments and be informed by the experiences of young people.