Improving Solent Mind’s Wellbeing Support for the Bangladeshi Community in Portsmouth

Solent Mind, Portsmouth

Starting point

Research shows that South Asian people experience greater mental health needs and worse outcomes (for example, lower recovery rates for talking therapies and higher likelihood of screening positive for post-traumatic stress disorder).

The project aimed to understand access barriers and increase the wellbeing support offer to the Bangladeshi community in Portsmouth.

Low access rates were identified among people of Bangladeshi heritage in Solent Mind services, despite the large local population in Portsmouth.

The population/group

People of Bangladeshi heritage in Portsmouth.

The project team

The team consisted of:

Solent Mind:
- outreach workers
- a research officer
- a lived experience lead.
With representation from community partners[NE1] :

What they found out from the community and stakeholders

First, they found the community by:

Connecting with active local network of community groups representing the Bangladeshi community, and faith leaders.
Participating in community activities and events.
Coming with a non-clinical lived experience approach and avoiding the term ‘mental health’.

Then, they worked with the community by:

Establishing contact with key community partners (as above).
Having Diversity and Inclusion Outreach Workers regularly attend community partner events, to connect and build relationships.
Holding focus groups and in-depth interviews with community members and partner organisation staff, to understand barriers to access and experience.
Organising a workshop to bring together community members and staff from Solent Mind’s Portsmouth services, to share feedback, highlight barriers and co-develop change ideas.

The main themes from community engagement were:

a lack of trust in Solent Mind and other local services
people feeling they don’t belong in existing services
accessing services is highly stigmatised
language barriers.

Ideas they tested

Deliver wellbeing sessions in community spaces.
Offer free mental health awareness training to community partner organisations and community leaders.
Ensure access to interpretation services across all Solent Mind services.
Implement the use of culturally sensitive language in communications and interactions.
Introduce a recruitment strategy focused on enhancing diversity within Solent Mind.

Successes and achievements

Establishing the project team.
Stakeholder involvement.
Delivering wellbeing sessions.
Delivering mental health awareness training.
Starting to address language barriers through the use of interpreters.
Changing perceptions of mental health through culturally sensitive use of language and engaging with the community

What next?

The team will:

Strengthen partnerships with community organisations.
Expand mental health awareness training and wellbeing support in the community.
Address language barriers and increasing cultural sensitivity in service delivery.