People from West Yorkshire’s BME communities with mental health concerns feel ignored and struggle to find a voice, according to charity Touchstone. The mental health charity recently ran two consultation events with BME service users as part of a national independent review of the Mental Health Act. Feedback from participants at the events in Leeds and Bradford suggested that some BME people also feel that racism is a key factor
Touchstone are holding three focus groups to gather feedback for The Mental Health Act Review. Get in touch to book your place. Dewsbury: 28th February, contact 01924 460211 or advocacy@touchstonesupport.org.uk Leeds: 2nd March, contact 0113 2192727 or supportcentre@touchstonesupport.org.uk Bradford: 17th April - details to be confirmed.
As part of the Leeds Crisis Care Concordat Action Plan for 2016/17, John Halsall of the Touchstone Community Development Service and Caroline Bamford of Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust compiled some evidence about the experiences and patterns of use of the Leeds crisis care pathways by black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. To do this, John and Caroline reviewed data recorded by the statutory crisis services, and data
For Mental Health Awareness Week on 8th to 14th May, John Halsall from the Community Development Service has written the third in a series of data blogs. This one looks at the findings from a national survey of mental health. Do take a few minutes to find out what the survey uncovered. In September 2016, NHS Digital published a national survey of mental health problems and treatment, the Adult Psychiatric
To celebrate LGBT History Month, but also to acknowledge the impact of bullying and discrimination on people from LGBT communities, Touchstone chief executive Alison Lowe has written a blog on this issue. This article also appears in 2017's LGBT History Month magazine. Mental health amongst minority communities is a political as well as an ethical issue. Evidence shows that marginalised groups such as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people,
Touchstone’s vision is to inspire communities and to transform lives. Over our 30 plus years of operating across West Yorkshire this aspiration has led us to focus on the hopes, experiences and outcomes of our most diverse communities, as experience shows that these communities are most often the most excluded, marginalised and overlooked. These reports will hopefully go some way to ensuring the rights and entitlements of Roma men and Black women born out
John Halsall from the Community Development Service presents the second in a series of data blogs - examining the meaning behind reports and statistics from various sources. You can read his first blog here. In January 2016 the Health & Social Care Information Centre published two chapters in the Health Survey for England, 2014: Chapter 2: Mental health problems Chapter 3: Attitudes towards mental illness This short article highlights
In the Community Development Service here at Touchstone we aim to achieve a greater understanding and ownership of mental health issues facing Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in Leeds. For World Statistics Day on 20th October, John Halsall, Community Health Development Analyst, has written the first in a series of data blogs. Please take a few minutes to take a look Mental health services do not report ethnicity for one in eight
On Monday 8th June, a BME Talkshop event was held at Touchstone House, organised by the West Yorkshire – Finding Independence (WY-FI). Poster Showing a ‘Perfect Service’ The West Yorkshire - Finding Independence (WY-FI) project is one of the 12 Big Lottery funded Fulfilling lives projects working with people with entrenched multiple and complex needs to engage and access appropriate services to achieve full recovery and independence. WY-FI has
"The efficiency of stepped care systems partly relies on systematic monitoring of patient outcomes and timely decisions to “step up” patients without any clear therapeutic gains to the next level of treatment. Qualitative evidence has suggested that this does not occur consistently, nor always congruently with clinical guidelines." This report was compiled by Jaime Delgadillo (Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust); Judith Gellatly (University of Manchester) and Simone Stephenson-Bellwood (Touchstone) Download the report