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Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion

Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion. Patience Seebohm, Alison Gilchrist, David Morris. Connect and Include An exploratory study of community development and mental health 2008. Patience Seebohm and Alison Gilchrist

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Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion

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  1. Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion Patience Seebohm, Alison Gilchrist, David Morris

  2. Connect and IncludeAn exploratory study of community development and mental health2008 Patience Seebohm and Alison Gilchrist Community Development Foundation commissioned by National Social Inclusion Programme Available from: www.cdf.org.uk

  3. Introduction • What we mean by ‘Bold but balanced’ • Challenges • Policy implications

  4. Introduction CD limits: • CD must be part of a wider strategy for more equal, healthy society. CD potential: • Connect & Include explores what works. A broad picture: • Survey and 39 interviews in 8 sites across England with CDWs, statutory sector staff, people using mental health services and a carer.

  5. Our focus • Close but critical support • To groups and individuals experiencing stress and distress • Enabling them to set up and sustain their own initiatives • Connected within their community and with the agencies they want to work with.

  6. The argument Bold but balanced CD promotes the processes of self-determination, collective action & empowerment which characterise community-led initiatives, mental well-being, inclusion and recovery from mental distress.

  7. Well-being, Recovery, Inclusion Hopeful In control Positive identity Purposeful Social relationships Valued

  8. Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Service Created and controlled for and by the local community

  9. Beat the Blues A group run by and for people suffering from post-natal depression

  10. Hamdard at Sharing Voices, Bradford Set up for and by Muslim women in distress Spiritual, Safe, Creative and Educational

  11. Community-led initiatives • Controlled from within, by their members • Prioritise experiential knowledge • Potential sites for: • Social relationships • Personal development • Political awareness • Collective action to bring about service, economic and social change.

  12. The ‘bold but balanced’ CD approach Bridging the gap Enabling & challenging Taking time to gain trust On tap, not on top Creating vibrancy

  13. Challenges • Promoting a social model of distress (challenging the medical model) • Low status reduces influence • Evaluation methodologies require resources and may not convince statutory authorities

  14. Policy implications • Good alignment with policy rhetoric but rarely acknowledged. • Requires long term investment, underpinned by values of equality and social justice, but… • Funding cuts, institutional resistance and reduced emphasis on collaboration and equality.

  15. “By connecting people together…you are putting in place an informal support system which is probably going to be more effective and long term than drugs”

  16. patienceseebohm@btinternet.comalison@alisongilchrist.co.uk dmorris1@uclan.ac.uk

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