The Centre for Culture Ethnicity & Health (CEH) has been providing education and training to the Victorian health and community service providers for more than fifteen years and has assist them with the necessary support and resources to deliver services in response to the issues and needs of consumers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

In 2007 CEH was funded by the Department of Human Services- Disability Services Division to develop and deliver cross cultural training courses in Metropolitan and Regional/Rural Victoria.

The aims of these cross cultural training courses were:

¬ To increase awareness of disability services staff about cultural diversity and how culture, language and religion influence the way people seek and receive services;
¬ To provide participants with the knowledge and skills on how to access and work with interpreters and translators; and
¬ To improve participants’ knowledge and skills about how to plan and deliver culturally appropriate services for people with a disability, their families and carers of diverse backgrounds.

More three hundred people across Victoria attended the training courses.

This paper will present the findings of the project undertaken by CEH targeting the disability services workforce in Government and in Disability funded Community Service Organisations.