mental health and black & minority ethnic children & young people

1. mental health and black & minority ethnic children & young people

2. Outcomes • How to reach and engage with young people from black and minority ethnic groups who may require help from mental health services • What needs to happen to aid the development of effective service provision for young people from black and minority ethnic groups.

3. National Census 2001 Minority ethnic population of the UK: 4.5 million (7.6%) • Indians • Pakistanis • Black Caribbeans • Black Africans • Mixed ethnic backgrounds

4. Ethnicity Visible ethnic minorities • Black Caribbean • Pakistani • Indian • Bangladeshi • Chinese • Travellers

5. Other Groups • Iraqis • Somalis • Yemenis • Iranians • Kurds • Bosnians • Algerians • Tamils • Vietnamese

6. Understanding Ethnicity Ethnicity is… • A process by which people create and maintain a sense of identity • Something that we all have

7. Barriers to access

8. Help seeking behaviour • Determined by a variety of factors: • Level of psychological distress • Personal problem-solving skills • Environmental factors • Negative attitudes towards mental health professionals • Preferences for informal sources of help (friends, family members) • Religious coping strategies

9. Engagement with mental health services • Use of GP services • Referrals for severe problems • Misunderstandings about the structures of services

10. Research on risk factors • Exclusion from school • Being looked after • Homelessness • Institutionalised racism • Lower income • Unemployed • Overcrowding • Bad housing • Poverty

11. Language barriers • Communicational difficulties • GP consultations not conducted • Level of participation by the patient reduced

12. Racism • Discrimination • Racial stereotyping

13. Stigma • Shame-orientated • Liable to adapt their behaviour to ‘save face’ • Reluctant to seek help outside the family • Fearful of criticism and losing face in society • Conflict between the service user and the family

14. Identification of mental health needs • Psychological problems not identified • Nature of GP-patient interaction • Poor communication • Greater somatisation/presentation of physical illness to GPs • Lack of trusts in services/professionals

15. Issues raised by young people in black and minority ethnic groups

16. Wide range of worries and concerns • Diversity of needs • Education and employment • Physical health • Discrimination and racism • Family relationships • Inclusion in local community • Money and finances

17. Young refugees and asylum seekers • Past traumatic experiences • Worries about legal status • How long they might stay in UK • Losses and grief

18. Awareness of mental health and mental health service provision/CAMHS • Fears of stigma and general reluctance to talk • Difficulties in finding out where to go • Long waiting times • Having to travel some distance • No interpreter • Sense of being ‘passed around’ • Having to re-tell their story • Service times not convenient

19. Confidentiality • Stigma of being in contact with services • Worried that friends and family would find out • Concerns those in close-knit community would find out

20. Lack of local provision • Lack of knowledge of local area • Lack of knowledge of transport system • Not being able to self-refer • Not able to get help promptly

21. Continuity of treatment • Information sharing • Trusting relationships • Staff changes • Constantly referred on • Unfamiliar with how UK health system works

22. Choice • Having some choice in own care • Choice of gender of staff member • Cultural background of staff member • Staff interested and aware of differences

23. Age-appropriate provision • Care through adult mental health services • Inpatient care on adult wards • Failure of inpatient CAMHS to meet dietary requirements • Day-to-day social interaction

24. Role and influence of parents • Different dynamics and roles within families • Different attitudes towards being asked questions • Worried about views of parents

25. Confusion over cultural identity • Professionals making assumptions on basis of ethnic group • Responding to questions about ethnicity • Appreciate the diversity of needs and situations • Why the question about ethnicity is being asked • What information is actually required

26. Staff understanding of racial and cultural needs • Develop an understanding • Take account of needs

27. Suggestions for improving access to and the delivery of services for the mental health of young people from black and minority ethnic groups

28. Style of service delivery • Greater range of settings including drop-in resources • More flexible hours of operation • Support from referring professional • Services in other settings • Choice about ethnicity of professional • User involvement

29. Information Sharing • Outreach work • Work in schools • Non-traditional routes

30. Service Promotion and targeting • More awareness-raising • Promotion through frontline professionals • Use of audio-visual materials • Changing referral structures • Information for parents, family and community • ‘Open days’

31. Interpreting support • Interpreters to receive training about mental health • Services to work with same interpreters to facilitate continuity • Simultaneous translations and interpreting

32. Staff recruitment: Identified training needs: • Cross-cultural communication of distress • Engagement skills • Challenging personal views and attitudes • Information on adapting models and approaches • Information about client contexts • Information about local services

33. Factors that enable services to reflect a multi-ethnic context • Having a diverse staff group able to communicate in a range of languages • Neutral décor or reflecting local community through signs, posters and displays in different languages • Interpreter support • Reception staff from black and minority ethnic groups • Celebrating religious and other cultural events • Space to accommodate extended family members • Translated materials in different languages (and ideally ansaphone not only available in English)

34. Inter-agency Working • Need for different agencies to work in partnership • Forge effective working links • Services that can meet diverse needs

35. Contribution of voluntary sector • Frontline access • Informal venues • Support across different areas or social activities • Less obviously mental health focused.