Positive Minds - Project on Mental Health

18th Jul 2018

We are delighted to have been awarded a 5 year grant from the Big Lottery Fund for a project “Positive Minds” on raising awareness of mental health issues, particularly in Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.  This project will commence in August 2018. 

We recently completed our 5 year “Chances For All” Project, working with women from BAME backgrounds to improve their skills, build their confidence in taking on a more active role in wider society, improving their and their families’ health.  During Year 4 of the project, eight women and two men attended a full two-day intensive training course on  Mental Health to become mental health first aiders. Prior to this, it had been identified that there was a gap in the knowledge of this topic, particularly   within the BAME community. The training proved to be very useful and participants achieved substantially better understanding of Mental Health. 

Listening to local BAME people, our research showed that mental health issues are regarded as taboo subjects and in many cases people are not aware of mental health in its various forms.  Taking on this finding we applied to the Big Lottery for a 5 year project, “Positive Minds” which will work with BAME people to raise awareness of mental health, and build community champions who will help support and encourage others to understand and acknowledge these conditions.  We will work with local partners to ensure support and help is available that is culturally appropriate and easy to access for sufferers and their carers.