Children and Families Mental Health Project
According to the Department of Health's web site on mental health;
"Mental health services in England are experiencing a period of unprecedented change. In the last five years, a wealth of evidence has emerged about which practices are effective and which are not".
It further states that in the case of Black & Ethnic Minorities and mental health:
"One in five mental health in-patients comes from a black and minority ethnic (BME) background, compared to about one in ten of the population as a whole. In January 2005, the Department of Health published a five-year action plan, Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in Mental Health Care. DRE aims to help mental health services provide care that fully meets the needs of BME patients and build stronger links with diverse communities"
One of the provisions within the policy of "delivering Equality in Mental Health Care* is to encourage NGOs like our centre to help, assist and encourage women with mental health problems cope better and stay as independent as possible. It is certainly not an easy task given the circumstances and nature of the way funding has been organised. The more commissioning the more administrative time taken, the less time with clients and so the government action plan to improve the health and well being of people with mental health problems through improving access to mainstream community activities and enabling them to gain confidence, independence and ultimately a new life could be hindered, if the main actors to lead and enable these communities to gain such access are forever struggling for funding as we seem to be.
Our project since last year has also seen a remarked increase. This is because of better access and increased volunteers. Our project runs into three tier systems, one to one casework, advocacy and counseling. The latter is done in partnership with Parkside health clinic and where acute cases are referred for counseling and the result has been tremendous. Our plan now is to increase the capacity by recruiting more volunteers to mentor, help and assist our client to gain confidence in a diverse of activities.
We continue to work with this very vulnerable group of women and children in the hope that they will gain confidence and become an integral part of the society in which they live in.
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According to the Department of Health's web site on mental health;
"Mental health services in England are experiencing a period of unprecedented change. In the last five years, a wealth of evidence has emerged about which practices are effective and which are not".
It further states that in the case of Black & Ethnic Minorities and mental health:
"One in five mental health in-patients comes from a black and minority ethnic (BME) background, compared to about one in ten of the population as a whole. In January 2005, the Department of Health published a five-year action plan, Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in Mental Health Care. DRE aims to help mental health services provide care that fully meets the needs of BME patients and build stronger links with diverse communities"
One of the provisions within the policy of "delivering Equality in Mental Health Care* is to encourage NGOs like our centre to help, assist and encourage women with mental health problems cope better and stay as independent as possible. It is certainly not an easy task given the circumstances and nature of the way funding has been organised. The more commissioning the more administrative time taken, the less time with clients and so the government action plan to improve the health and well being of people with mental health problems through improving access to mainstream community activities and enabling them to gain confidence, independence and ultimately a new life could be hindered, if the main actors to lead and enable these communities to gain such access are forever struggling for funding as we seem to be.
Our project since last year has also seen a remarked increase. This is because of better access and increased volunteers. Our project runs into three tier systems, one to one casework, advocacy and counseling. The latter is done in partnership with Parkside health clinic and where acute cases are referred for counseling and the result has been tremendous. Our plan now is to increase the capacity by recruiting more volunteers to mentor, help and assist our client to gain confidence in a diverse of activities.
We continue to work with this very vulnerable group of women and children in the hope that they will gain confidence and become an integral part of the society in which they live in.
Back to Services
