Mental health nurse Francis Acquah has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, AM, for his services to mental health care and the community.
Born in Ghana, Mr Acquah has more than 37 years of experience as a psychiatric nurse across public and private healthcare settings and has most recently used his experience to establish the Positive Wellness Recovery Centre, PWRC, which officially opened in Kalkallo late last year.
While catering for everyone, Mr Acquah has placed particular focus on people from culturally-diverse communities who often face greater difficulties in accessing mental health services due to language barriers, lower health literacy and navigating unfamiliar systems – placing them at risk of poorer quality mental health care.
Mr Acquah said he was overwhelmed to have received the award in recognition of his extensive career.
“I was, of course, humbled and excited to receive the award for the work that I’ve been doing with others over the past 40 years of my mental health career,” he said.
“I went into mental health and I really fell in love with it – that became my passion.”
Mr Acquah completed nursing training and psychiatric nursing in the United Kingdom and moved to Australia in 1986, where he worked at the Larundel Hospital in Bundoora before attending La Trobe University and developing his interest in transcultural mental health.
“We started having refugees coming into the psychiatric system from Africa, and they had a lot of stigma and didn’t understand mental health issues,” Mr Acquah said.
“The system was also not prepared for people from Africa, they didn’t understand the culture.
“I went back to school, to La Trobe University, and did my thesis on the mental health of migrants and refugees, and that became my specialty.”
Mr Acquah has put significant effort into educating communities about mental health and reducing stigma, delivering mental health training services and being recognised through various awards.
He has been involved in several projects to improve mental health facilities in Ghana, while also working with the University of Newcastle to provide Doctor of Philosophy scholarships to Ghanaian mental health professionals to study mental health.
In 2019, Mr Acquah founded the PWRC and developed the Kalkallo Wellness Hub, which offers mental wellness programs, disability support, education and training, housing, and recreational and healthy living activities.
“I’m quite passionate about what I do, and the Kalkallo Wellness Hub is a new system that I am developing, but our work from there is about creating a new paradigm of wellness and helping people to actually look at their mental health on a day-to-day basis and not wait until they are in crisis,” Mr Acquah said.
“I’m hoping that by the end of this year, we will have some buildings on the grounds for accommodation and not just for National Disability Income Support participants, but for other clients to come in and have a safe place to be.”
Mr Acquah gave a ‘big shout out’ to mental health nurses, who were at the frontline of patient care in hospitals and in the community.
In other honours, Mernda’s Nicole Lee was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to people with disability and to women.
Ms Lee is the current president of People with Disability Australia and has served numerous roles in family violence and safety, including as the inaugural domestic violence alert ambassador with Lifeline Australia, director of the Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre and former sexual assault participant with the #LetHerSpeak campaign.
She was also involved in the Family Violence and Disability Program through Women with Disabilities Victoria from 2019 to 2020.
