Update: The new Culturally Appropriate Advocacy Service

source: Catalyst/Sandra Griffiths
published: 11 June 2024

Earlier this year Catalyst 4 Change announced the launch of a new Culturally Appropriate Mental Health Advocacy Service for people of African, Caribbean heritage and other racialised communities within the Birmingham and Solihull Area.

This service, called Advocates for Change, is a partnership between POhWER, Sandwell African & Caribbean Mental Health Foundation (SACMHF) and Catalyst 4 Change. The service is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Advocates for Change is designed to meet the cultural needs of people from racialised communities so that they can access support without encountering barriers, have improved experiences and achieve better outcomes.

The service opened to clients in January of this year.

Activities of the service to date

Between January - March of 2024 the Advocates for Change team have conducted the following activities:

The POhWER team has provided 42 service users with one-to-one advocacy support, drop-in sessions, and group advocacy sessions on psychiatric units. The group advocacy sessions have provided service users with information and an opportunity for them to explore culture and identity, discrimination and how to challenge it, and empowerment in hospital to promote self-advocacy. 

Here are snapshots of some of the issues service users have raised with the Advocates for Change team: 

• Feeling overwhelmed by the number of staff at ward rounds and review meetings
• Mealtimes are not protected during Ramadan
• Access to Black hair products and skin care
• Access to nutritious African and Caribbean food on the wards
  

The SACMHF team has promoted this service to Community based services and produced a directory of services that service users can access once discharged from hospital. They also supporting service users to reintegrate back into the community.

SACMHF and Catalyst have worked together to promote this service to carers and organisations supporting carers.

Based on feedback from these sessions we have started to develop a series of information sessions called ‘Know Your Rights’ to help Carers better understand their rights and promote self-advocacy. Carers support groups will be set up in the next quarter.

Service Change:

The concerns and complaints we have heard from service users and the carers are long standing. Central to improving the experience and mental health outcomes for people from racialised communities is the Patient Carer and Race Equality Framework (PCREF). The Patient Carers Race Equality Framework looks at the key ‘organisational competencies’ that NHS mental health trusts need to develop to address mental health inequalities experienced by racialised communities.

Catalyst 4 Change has been working in partnership with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust (BSMHFT) since 2021 on its PCREF programme.

The Advocates for Change team are now supporting BSMHFT to meet its PCREF objectives to ensure that the issues raised by service users and carers during our one-to-one and collective engagement activities drive service change and are more culturally appropriate.

If you would like to make a referral or require more information about Advocates for Change, please contact:

POhWER 

Email: pohwer@pohwer.net

Tel: 0300 456 2370

www.pohwer.net/culturally-appropriate-advocacy-service-birmingham-and-solihull

Sandwell African & Caribbean Mental Health Foundation

Email: info@sacmhf.co.uk

Tel: 0121 525 1629

Catalyst 4 Change 

Email: enquiries@catalyst4change.org.uk 

Tel: 0844 884 3318