Celebrating Our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Communities

Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Communities Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Communities December 2004 Policy Estates HR/Workforce Performance Management IM & T Planning Finance Clinical Partnership Working Document Purpose Procedure – change ROCR Ref: Gateway Reference: 2560 Title Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Author National Institute for Mental Health in England Publication Date December 2004 Target Audience GPs, Black and minority ethnic voluntary sector workers, community development workers, public health and health promotion specialists, primary care workers, mental health workers, local authority workers, community and self help groups, community leaders, prison staff, faith communities Circulation List PCT CEs, NHS Trusts CEs, SHA CEs. Care Trusts CEs, Directors of PH, Ds of Social Services, Voluntary Organisations, NIMHE Racial Equality Leads Description This resource makes the case for mental promotion with black and minority ethnic communities in England. It sets out a framework for delivering local interventions and addressing the needs of black and minority ethnic communities within mental health promotion strategies being implemented in response to Standard 1 of the National Service Framework for Mental Health Cross Ref Making It Happen: A guide to delivering mental health promotion. Inside Outside: Improving Mental Health Services for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in England Superseded Docs Action Required For information Timing None Contact Details John Scott National Institute for Mental Health in England Room 8E40 Quarry House Quarry Hill Leeds LS2 7UE 0113 254 6892 [email protected] For Recipient’s Use Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Foreword Britain is recognised as a multiethnic and multicultural society. But the poor socio- economic status of many people from black and other minority ethnic groups in Britain is a significant cause of poor health among them. This finding highlights the need for policies and programmes to reduce inequalities in health. Good mental health promotion activity with black and other minority ethnic groups exists but these communities still experience high levels of discrimination and mental ill health. Promoting mental health among minority ethnic groups raises a number of complex issues. These include well-documented cultural differences in the way psychological distress presents, is perceived and interpreted. Different cultures also develop different responses for coping with psychological stress. As a consequence, mental health interventions that emphasise individualism may not be appropriate for all cultures and belief systems. This resource, “Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities” provides information about specific mental health promotion needs relevant to a number of black and ethnic communities in England. It builds on “Inside Outside” published last year. I believe the publication of this resource is another significant step in combating the health inequalities still faced by people from black and other minority ethnic communities. Lord Chan of Oxton MBE iii Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Acknowledgements This resource was commissioned by the National Institute for Mental Health in England. mentality would like to thank all those who contributed to its development. A black and minority ethnic mental health promotion forum was set up to support and inform the development of the guidelines, first meeting in April 2002 and continuing to communicate throughout the project. Interest in and support for this work has been substantial, and membership of the forum has grown to almost one hundred individuals and organisations- we are grateful for the input from forum members. In particular, mentality would like to thank the following for their support and co-operation: Shahid Ali, Commissioning Officer- Minority Groups, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council Dr Kamaldeep Bhui, Professor of Cultural Psychiatry & Epidemiology, Barts and The London Medical School Hanif Bobat, Policy Officer, Manchester Race/ Health Forum Dr Albert Persaud, Lead on Cross Cutting Programmes within the National Institute for Mental Health in England BME programme John Scott, Mental Health Promotion Manager, National Institute for Mental Health in England Baljinder Heer, Public Health Programme, The Kings Fund Kiran Juttla, Diverse Mind Ranjit Senghera, Mental Health Promotion Manager, South Birmingham Mental Health Trust Mary Tilki, Chair, Federation of Irish Societies Melba Wilson, Chair, Wandsworth Primary Care Trust We would also like to thank the many projects and organisations that submitted information about their work, and in particular those that gave their time for us to visit them. It has not been possible to include all the projects because of limitations on space, but the following are included as examples of excellent work taking place: African Caribbean Community Initiative Antenna Outreach Service Bi-Cultural Support Project Cara Irish Housing Association Specialist Support Team Culture Works Endurance Frantz Fannon Centre for Mental Health v Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Himmat Project London Irish Women’s centre Longside/Moss Side Community Project Maan Somali Mental Health Mellow Mental Health Needs of Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Plymouth Mental Health Training for the Bangladeshi Community Muslim Women’s Helpline National Chinese Mental Health Project Naye Subah Project Newham Asian Women’s Project North Birmingham Asian Services – Dosti North Sheffield Young People’s Mental Health Project Pennine Care Primary Mental Health Service Positive Vibrations Raabta and Deeplish Mind Mental Health projects Sikh Community Healthy Living Project Suaimhneas Project Turkish and Kurdish Drama Project Vietnamese Mental Health Services Women of Colour Project Mary Tidyman Community Health Development Manager, mentality Authors: Mary Tidyman, Elizabeth Gale and Linda Seymour Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities is dedicated to Billy Ko, MBE, JP, Chair of the Chinese Mental Health Project (UK) until his death in 2002, for his huge contribution to mental health promotion with the Chinese community and the black and minority ethnic population as a whole. vi Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Contents Introduction 00 1 The Mental Health Promotion Environment 00 2 Mental Health Issues for Different Black and Minority Ethnic Communities 00 African Caribbean community 00 Chinese community 00 Irish community 00 Refugees and Asylum Seekers 00 South Asian community 00 Vietnamese community 00 3 Strategies for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities 00 Consulting and working with black and minority ethnic communities and organisations 00 Developing appropriate services 00 Training 00 Employment and training opportunities 00 Raising mental health awareness 00 Supporting black and minority ethnic user groups, carers and families 00 Promoting holistic approaches 00 Challenging discrimination, stereotypes and discrimination 00 Promoting social support and reducing isolation 00 Tackling racism and discrimination 00 vii Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities 4 Principles of Effective Practice 00 5 Settings for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities 00 6 A Framework for Evaluation 00 7 Examples of Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities 00 Appendix One: Policy Context 00 Appendix Two: Useful Organisations 00 Appendix Three: Feedback 00 References 00 viii Celebrating our Cultures: Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion with Black and Minority Ethnic Communities Introduction This resource makes the case for mental health promotion with black and minority ethnic communities in England. It sets out a framework for developing local interventions and addressing the needs of black and minority ethnic communities within mental health promotion strategies being implemented in response to Standard One of the National Service Framework for Mental Health. The National Institute for Mental Health in England (NIMHE) has commissioned this guide as part of their Mental Health Promotion Programme to provide support and information to a range of people working within health and social care, local authorities, the voluntary sector, community groups and beyond to deliver mental health promotion to the black and minority ethnic communities they serve. It follows the publication of Inside Outside: Improving Mental Health Services for Black and Minority Ethnic Communities in England (Department of Health 2003) which recognises the need to improve service experience and service outcome for black and minority ethnic communities, and also includes proposals aimed at improving the overall mental health of people from black and minority ethnic groups living in England. This new resource builds on Inside Outside and focuses on mental health promotion

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