Cultural Intelligence (CQ) in Mental Health Care-Level 2

Course Outline

This 2-day advanced workshop builds on the foundations of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) in Mental Health Care. It focuses on practical tools, clinical formulations, and experiential learning to help practitioners draw out and work with culture in therapy.

About the workshops:

This 6-module training aims to improve Mental health practitioners' cultural responsiveness and help them work more effectively with Australian Muslim clients.

This is a wonderful opportunity for mental health practitioners to engage in some reflective cultural self-awareness to improve therapeutic outcomes with Muslim clients.

Target Audience:

Mental health practitioners, psychologists, clinical social workers, and counsellors who work in mental health and wellbeing

Course Benefits

By the end of this training, participants will:

· Apply the CQ model confidently in psychotherapy and mental health promotion.

· Recognise and address systemic inequities, racism, and discrimination in practice.

· Support client recovery through cultural, spiritual, and community-based strengths.

· Develop a professional growth plan for continuing intercultural competence.

· Meet AHPRA’s updated cultural competency standards (2025) with practical, applied strategies.

This course aligns with the Psychology Board of Australia’s Professional Competencies (2025 update):

· Competency 7 – Demonstrating a health equity and human rights approach with diverse groups.

Module Content Overview

Module 1 – Culturally Intelligent Approaches to Psychotherapy with Muslim Clients (A)

· Barriers to therapist cultural competence.

· Attending to culture and race in psychotherapy.

· Working effectively with Muslim clients.

· Sociocultural and systemic causes of mental health inequities.

· Exploring intersectionality.

· Revisiting the CQ model in therapeutic practice.

Competency Link: Deepens understanding of systemic inequities and strengthens commitment to culturally responsive, inclusive psychotherapy.

Module 2 – Culturally Intelligent Approaches to Psychotherapy with Muslim Clients (B)

· Harnessing culture in the counselling room.

· Using the Diversity/Resilience formulation.

· Identifying cultural scripts and their influence on wellbeing.

· Practising empathic confrontation to challenge unhelpful cultural scripts.

Competency Link: Builds capacity to integrate cultural knowledge into clinical formulations, ensuring equitable outcomes and culturally informed care.

Module 3 – Psycho-Spiritual Coping Mechanisms Drawn on by Muslims

· Exploring common psychosocial-spiritual coping mechanisms.

· Understanding Islamic explanatory models of illness and recovery.

· Pathways to Wellbeing used by Muslim clients and families.

Competency Link: Enhances trauma-aware and culturally informed care by recognising client strengths and culturally grounded recovery pathways.

Module 4 – Mental Health Promotion with Muslim Communities

· Building trust and credibility with non-dominant communities.

· Reviewing health promotion campaigns through the CQ lens.

· Practical strategies to improve mental health literacy and engagement of Muslim clients.

Competency Link: Encourages collaborative approaches and community engagement, ensuring health promotion is equitable, respectful, and culturally safe.

Module 5 – The Psychological Impact of Racism, Islamophobia, and Stereotypes

· Understanding Islamophobia in Australia.

· The psychological toll of racism and discrimination on mental health.

· The role of the practitioner as counsellor advocate.

· Supporting clients in accessing systems of care and reporting racism.

Competency Link: Addresses health equity by recognising systemic racism as a determinant of mental health and advocating for clients’ human rights.

Module 6 – Addressing Family Violence in Muslim Families

· Culturally intelligent approaches to family violence (FV).

· The role of cultural values and cultural strengths in prevention and recovery.

· Community engagement in family violence prevention.

· Secondary consultation with Muslim FV practitioners.

Competency Link: Promotes culturally safe, collaborative, and strengths-based responses to family violence, ensuring dignity, equity, and human rights in care.

About the Facilitator:

Monique Toohey is a registered Psychologist and certified CulturalIntelligence (CQ) Advisor. She is Managing Director and Principal Psychologist at Nasihah Consulting Group and Co-Founder of the Centre for Muslim Wellbeing. For 6 years, she was the Lead Lecturer in Multicultural Counselling, Culture, and Psychology at Australian Catholic University, and is a regular guest lecturer at universities both nationally and internationally. She has also delivered organisational training programs in Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Monique is a well-known advocate for Mental health awareness and family violence among Muslim and culturally diverse communities. She also has extensive clinical experience, over the past 25 years, delivering psychological services, assessments, and group programs to Muslim clients across the lifespan. She pioneered psychological services in most Islamic schools across Melbourne and has extensive experience working with Muslim young people, women, and couples. She has also provided numerous internships and supervised up-and-coming psychologists and counsellors from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds for the past 2 decades, many of whom have launched their own careers in Islamic schools and private practices.

In 2021, she featured in the Amazon Prime Video docuseries UNHEARD, which investigated racism in Australia, and in 2019 delivered ‘Culture eats individuality for breakfast’ at TEDx Docklands. She is often invited by ABC News to provide psychological insights on a range of topics from mental health to multiculturalism. She has been featured on LateLine, The Australian, The Age, The Herald-Sun, ABC and 3AW radio. She was a speaker at the 2016 Melbourne Writers’ Festival and is the Author of multiple publications.