BME community
development workers 

Have you got questions about mental health?  As BME Community Development Workers, we want to ask:

• Why do so many people from BME backgrounds struggle with their mental health?
• Do people feel mental health is something to be ashamed of?
• As someone from a BME community, are the mental health services right for me?
• Does the BME community feel that mental health a condition, a crime or a punishment for something?

Many people with mental health issues suffer in silence.  We believe its time to talk about mental health... 

Who we are:

The Community Development Workers service helps the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) community to develop mental health services. By providing support to mental health and community organisations we aim to help the development of services for young people and young adults aged 0-35 years.

What we do:

We support mental health services and community organisations to engage Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in their work by:

• Empowering BME communities to play a key role in the development of services.
• Identifying barriers to accessing mental health services.
• Raising awareness of mental health issues and challenging mental health stigma within BME communities.
• Acting as a supportive link between BME communities and mental health services.
• Helping organisations to build capacity.
• Bridging the gap between community organisations and statutory services, providing information and advice on how to engage with BME groups.

What we believe:

As Community Development Workers we are committed to raising awareness of mental health and reducing any stigma that is attached. We believe that services should be accessible to all people, particularly BME communities, and that discrimination in mental health services should be a thing of the past. Also, we believe that BME community organisations have a significant role to play in the strategic development of more culturally appropriate and responsive mental health services.

Making the first call:

Whether you belong to a new or existing BME community organisation or you are from a statutory organisation that would like to develop your service offering for BME communities you can access our service for support. To find out more about how we can help contact the BME CDWs.