Local Year 12 student reflects on key themes from our Big Conversation event

For one week, we were delighted to host a local Year 12 student, Matthew O’Reilly, for a work experience placement. During his placement, Matthew looked at the notes and feedback taken at our Big Conversation event on BAME men’s mental health and wellbeing. Matthew extracted key themes and comments from the materials and reflected on the insights gathered.  

“Bringing together the abundance of ideas produced from the Big Conversation event was truly eye-opening. The BAME men’s community had their opinions and views heard, as well as four guest speakers: Mr Abdul Qayum, Mr Day Njovana, Mr Sam Ogunkoya, and Mr Jama Omar, and altogether Social Action for Health managed to record and collect as much of these as possible. I will attempt to answer one of the most common questions that arose from this event, as it appears to be a good place to start. A seemingly simple yet deceptively difficult question to answer: “What exactly is mental health?”

The World Health Organisation describes mental health as “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community.” Mental health is so important because it affects literally everything in your life, as everything starts with your own mindset and way of thinking. 

A word cloud made from the key themes which Matthew extracted from the materials.

 I will establish several terms and concepts which were mentioned often in this discussion, and which are important and necessary to understand when it comes to tackling mental health issues within the BAME men’s community.

First, is the term stigma. This refers to a negative association that a society or group of people hold about something. For example, when a person with a mental illness is mocked or viewed as ‘weak’ when seeking help, this is due to the stigma surrounding mental illness. Stigmatisation’s damaging effects can be reduced by trying to understand and listen to someone of another perspective than your own. Men’s mental health should not be considered a ‘taboo’ subject and men should be encouraged to open up and talk honestly about their issues and problems that they may be facing.

Stereotyping is a factor which leads to stigmatisation and unfortunately does not just occur within communities, but also on a much larger scale. This is because it also emerges as a result of institutional racism. Institutional racism is discrimination or unequal treatment on the basis of belonging to a particular ethnic group, within the laws and regulations of a society or an organisation. This can have huge effects on BAME men’s mental wellbeing. One example is the rates of stop and search, whereby black people are disproportionately affected compared to their white counterparts. This leads to stress and a negative relationship with the government and police force.

‘Big, black and dangerous’ also came up in the Big Conversation, and here is a link to a highly interesting article entailing what exactly this concept means and its implications for black men: https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk/racial-disparity-mental-health-challenging-false-narratives.

Signposting was also mentioned frequently. This shared feeling of needing direction to where to receive help shows the difficulties that BAME men can face in tackling mental health. Even after acknowledging that there is a problem that must be addressed, and overcoming the stigma surrounding mental health and the pressure that men feel ‘be strong,’ finding where to go to receive help is a challenge in itself.

E-consultancy and online therapy seem to be ineffective. Due to a lack of digital literacy as well as the huge problem of language barriers, many men felt that they were receiving insufficient help, and this led to feelings of neglect and abandonment. When trying to consult a GP in person, many men said that they would have to wait for weeks for an appointment, and when finally meeting the GP, they felt dissatisfied.

So, what needs to change? Issues such as unemployment, drug abuse, language barriers, stigma, and insufficient and unhelpful treatment from services were all listed as problems that must be addressed. Several suggestions for the improvement of mental health were also listed. Family support, local groups in familiar settings, diversity within services, more translation, and easier access to services and support were some of these suggestions.”

We are very grateful to Matthew for reflecting on the conversations which took place at the event and for unpacking several key themes which he identified.