Mental Health & Faith Seminar Report May 2014

Transcription

1 Mental Health & Faith Seminar Report May 2014 In association with

2 Introduction Rochdale Council of Mosques (RCM) is an umbrella body representing all mosques and teaching centres in Rochdale. Its vision is to develop successful, confident and united Muslims, who pursue their aspirations with respect and dignity in order to make valuable contributions to the economic, spiritual and civic life of Rochdale. This vision is achieved by: Working with all the communities of Rochdale in order to develop a framework for addressing issues affecting local Muslim people through effective partnership working. Promote harmony and unity between the people of Rochdale. Endeavour to consult, contribute, help develop and where needed, deliver services which meet the needs of the Muslim communities living in Rochdale, and To provide a gateway to service providers, enhancing access and participation of the Muslim community. As part of this remit RCM has been working closely with all public and private sector service providers. Mental Health has been a major issue concerning al communities but on relative terms the scale of needs is described as greater in BME communities and due to diverse nature of these communities it requires complex delivery models of service provision which are sensitive to individual needs of these divers communities. Even in 2014 like in other communities mental health remains a taboo subject and RCM recognised that Faith Based Approach was required to promote discussions and consequently raise awareness of this serious issue. At the same time NHS (Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria) were looking to promote awareness of the critical need to address mental health provision and more importantly engage with faith based communities to help with cultural and religious sensitive solutions for communities. As a result NHS (Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria) agreed to fund a seminar in Mental Health and Faith.

3 Aims of the Seminar RCM have an excellent relationship with communities and were well placed to develop initiatives which could help: To increase mental health awareness via its network of faith organisations and religious groups To kick start discussions on mental health within religious leaders like imams and church leaders by bringing them together to explore the possibility of working together which would then lead to way of working to benefit patients and carers effected by mental health particularly the BME communities, and Increase understanding of religious leaders on the mental health and the needs of patients and carers from a religious perspective. Outcomes of the seminar The funding from NHS helped to organise and kick start debates and the overarching aim of establishing a mental health faith network, which will provide a platform for discussions and a sounding board for NHS managers to help them tailor-make their services for these communities. The mental health faith network will also explore the possibility of continuous training and development for their own individual religious institutions and groups by meeting on a regular basis and via partnership with CCGs, NHS England and local authority social care directorate. The half-day seminar was held in a well-known and established venue, Castlemere Community Centre and was attended by over 50 people representing a wide range of faith and community organisations. Its Programme included speakers from: Muslim Faith Christian Faith and NHS

4 All the speakers spoke about mental health needs and aspirations on meeting these needs. The overarching theme was that with ever increasing needs and issues concerning mental health inclusion of religion and spiritual beliefs can prove beneficial to the healing process. This is of particular importance when religious beliefs are core tenet in the service users life. As result it was important to respond to such need as having knowledge of religious needs and understanding the individual s needs provide a good recipe for satisfactory outcomes. The seminar considered that: 1. All faith show and promote understanding mental health issues and often it s not faith but culture which tends to exacerbate this issue. 2. Faith needs should be considered as part of a whole-person approach to the care and treatment of an individual and these individuals should be asked about their religious needs. 3. It should be acknowledged that there is diverse religious need of each individual. As such the faith leaders should develop capabilities to understand mental health issues and needs of their communities. Their leadership can help address stigma and discrimination, and develop links with service providers so faith can play a role in the treatment process.

5 The seminar also provided the delegates with an interactive opportunity to consider 4 specific topics on faith and mental health. The outcome of the small groups discussion is as follows: Topic 1 What are the challenges facing the faith based communities regarding mental health. Acknowledging, listening, understanding and sign posting to relevant service providers Lack of training opportunities Lack of referrals systems in place Building relationships between faith and health communities Systems in place - when issues arise! Having a toolkit of solutions

6 Topic 2 How can faith communities raise awareness and promote Mental Health? List of users access to users through mosques because of large congregations on Fridays and other days Establish link with providers Contact and networking with other faith groups Representation of each group i.e. Youth, Elderly, Women etc. Role of Trained Volunteers Faith sensitive approach Providing literature to raise awareness RCM other faith networks etc. Awareness and provisions of services available Helping to create user friendly services in centre

7 Topic 3 How can the NHS and its partners help the faith organisations in promoting mental health patients and carers? Providing funding internal /external Resources Human / physical equipment, Multi-lingual leaflets with NHS logos, presentations, events Media campaigns Effective use of GP surgeries Producing electronic media, DVD, radio shows to raise awareness on mental health issues Role models in service providers and also a safe place for mental health sufferers to talk about their experiences and share these with others Determine what the diagnosis needs to be and followed up with appropriate intervention. Work with schools to raise awareness Multi agency working, partners / public who need to refer to Sector agencies to be educated to see signs when for example conducting home visits to help VP.

8 Topic 4 Establishing a mental health and faith network Dire need of such a network BUT hindered by lack of resources Opportunity for dialogue between mental health and faith involving Mosques (RCM) and all other faiths, and Mind

9 Conclusion The seminar provided an excellent opportunity for faith and community representatives to discuss this important issue and there was overwhelming support to set up a Mental Health and faith Network. RCM will be happy to work with NHS (Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria) to help set up and facilitate such a network. RCM is indebted to NHS (Greater Manchester, Lancashire & South Cumbria) for providing funding for this seminar. RCM is particularly grateful for the support provided by Maqssod Ahmed both as the speaker at the event but also for the motivating RCM to deliver the successful outcomes from this seminar. RCM would like to thank all speakers and delegates for their contributions without which RCM would not have been able to achieve successful outcomes from this seminar.