Ethnicity & The Mental Health Act: A Service User's Perspective.

Service User Report

Mushwera are currently looking at the issues surrounding members of the BME community who have a dual diagnosis, (substance use issue and mental health diagnosis). As a result of this a peer and myself attended a conference titled: Ethnicity & The Mental Health Act. The conference was a daylong affair hosted by the Ethnic Health Initiative (EHI), in London on 24th May 2010. EHI were formed in 2005 by a group of frontline professionals, working in the field of health & social care. They’re particularly interested in the area of black and minority ethnic communities and health inequalities.

EHI has a number of aims, two of which are raising the profile of cross cultural health matters and to influence national and local policy and good practice guidance development.
The day was spent listening to and questioning various professionals who were deemed ‘experts’ primarily in the fields of psychiatry and the Mental Health Act. The conference concentrated on BME’s diagnosed with schizophrenia, as this diagnosis appears to be particularly prevalent among those from BME communities. The first part of the day was spent listening to two speakers who provided different perspectives as to why this was happening. The first speaker suggested that institutionalised racism is rife within mental health services and that it is this that influences the diagnosis. The second speaker concluded that the cause is primarily, social disadvantage and ‘second generation migration stress’. In my opinion both speakers made valid points.

The afternoon session centred on discussions involving the impact of mental health legislation and how BME communities respond to mental health services, i.e. fear of engaging.

Whilst the day was well organised and informative, it didn’t provide any clear ideas or suggestions in moving forward, or ways in which to encourage and support BME communities to engage with mental health services. The issue of people from BME communities with a dual diagnosis was not discussed/debated.
I have written information from the conference including speaker profiles, topics and contents of their speeches. Should anybody require further information contact Paul Moores on Tel:0117 914 2208 or 07825 315625.

Joe J