World Wellness Group’s Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) Prevention Program works with multicultural communities to strengthen social connection and belonging as a way to prevent harm from alcohol and other drugs. While there’s lots of evidence that social belonging prevents AOD harms, there’s very little evidence how this applies to multicultural communities. Our program seeks to gather this evidence.

Many people from migrant and refugee backgrounds face added stresses such as settling into a new country, trauma, language barriers and feeling excluded. These experiences can increase the risk of harm but most social belonging programs are not designed with multicultural communities in mind. They tend to focus on place-based initiatives while our program will be focusing on culture-based initiatives. We will be putting culture, lived experience and community leadership at the centre.