The 4minds team recently recruited 17 Volunteers to undertake a research project to work with individuals and organisations from the BME communities in K&C with the aim of obtaining the following information:

• which messages work best in de-stigmatising mental illness
• how people from BME communities in K&C would like to receive information about mental illness and services
• BME people’s experiences of mental health services
• how they think mental health services could be improved
• what are the barriers to accessing existing services
• how BME people perceive their own vulnerability to mental illness
• the factors that make them more vulnerable to becoming mentally ill
• the factors that make them more resilient
• the situations in their lives where they would have liked to receive support from a mental health service

Community Researchers Focus Group

The first Focus Group was held on Monday 9^th November with Nafsika and Jill at the helm. The group spent time getting to know each other, learning about the services of the 4minds project and then discussed issues ranging from stigma, appropriate language in mental health and getting help. The group made a start on discussing the format of the questions to be included in the questionnaire.

Community Researchers Training Day

The second day of training took place at the Migrant & Refugee Communities Forum in Thorpe Close. The group were shown the Breaking through the Barriers DVD, the overall objective of which is to improve understanding of mental illness and reduce stigma and discrimination in Black and Minority Ethnic communities.

The Research Team then took part in the Mental Health Awareness training programme facilitated by the 4minds team. They gained a brief overview of the signs and symptoms, the causes and the treatments for depression, anxiety, suicide and psychosis. The research team felt that they had benefitted from the training, had developed their knowledge and that the training had challenged some of their misconceptions about mental health illness.