The Synergi Collaborative Centre is committed to forming partnerships and collaborations to transform the realities of ethnic inequalities in severe mental illness and multiple disadvantage and prioritise lived experience narratives.
Founded in 1981, Islington Mind has been actively involved in the development of mental health services in Islington. Affiliated to National Mind, it works with local statutory partners: the London Borough of Islington, Islington Clinical Commissioning Group, and Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust. It offers the only unrestricted access day service in the borough serving 400 service users. A service which aids recovery through active participation of service users in decisions that affect their daily life in the wider community. Islington Mind is significantly involved in the Islington Mental Health Advisory Group (MHAG), a body which oversees the commissioning priorities in mental health for the Islington Clinical Commissioning Group and monitors the implementation of the Government mental health strategy for England, No Health without Mental Health.
The Psychosis Therapy Project is a therapy service for clients experiencing psychosis. The Project offers opportunities for psychotherapeutic treatment with a team of psychoanalytically trained practitioners working in the area of psychosis. The Project is committed to strategies of stabilisation and the management of persistent symptoms.
The therapeutic work it offers is long-term, giving clients time and space to articulate distressing experiences and cultivate robust and enduring solutions.The Psychosis Therapy Project takes place at the Mind Hub, 48 Despard Road, London N19 5NW. The Hub can be contacted on 020 7263 3397. We welcome referrals and enquiries from all boroughs. A low fee applies to access the therapy service. Referrals to the Project can be made via the online form.
The African and Caribbean Mental Health Services (ACMHS) is a voluntary charitable organisation that was formed in October 1989 to provide support to African and African Caribbean people with mental health problems aged 16 and over and registered with a Manchester GP. The Mental Health Team works with people who have common mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, relationship problems and low self-esteem, by offering advice, CBT and person-centred counselling, CBT therapies, advocacy, health and wellbeing groups. To support the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) who fund the organisation towards Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), ACMHS now provides a wide choice of psychological therapies based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT). ACMHS also provides drop-in services and has a carers group, which gives practical and emotional support to individuals who are caring for someone who suffers from mental ill health. It offers volunteering opportunities provides placement opportunities for social workers, occupational therapists, counsellors, nurses and training in race and mental health, cultural awareness and mental wellbeing. Its Befriending Project aims to aid the recovery of African and Caribbean patients in North Manchester General Hospital. The service will be provided by service users who have experience of being inpatients themselves.
Mind in Haringey provides information, advice and support to people affected by mental health problems, primarily in Haringey. We work to prevent mental health problems, promote mental well being and ensure those with mental health problems are respected and included in our local community. Its mission is to support anyone in Haringey with mental health issues by listening to people, defending their rights and helping them to lead fulfilling lives.
For over 50 years, LMCP has been supporting community development in Manchester. Today, it is involved in outreach work, research, cultural awareness training, consultancy, user engagement, capacity building and influencing policy. LMCP takes a community development and ‘slow’ social work approach. It attempts to maintain regular contact over a longer period with our service users. LMCP works in partnership with health (GPs, District Nurses and others) and social care (Social Workers, Care Workers and others), professionals to ensure that service users’ needs are accurately assessed, services are provided that take into consideration cultural and religious differences and that any unmet needs are recorded. It also works in partnership with health and social care professionals to help improve their knowledge and understanding of cultural and religious differences. LMCP serves on strategy/policy and service improvement groups to help ensure that diverse needs are acknowledged, commitment made and appropriate services are developed and delivered by a skilled work force. And the organisation encourages individuals and groups to develop an interest in health and social care issues and to participate in appropriate forums.
CATALYST 4 CHANGE has a powerful social mission to strengthen the capacity and networks of voluntary, social enterprise, grassroots, service user led, statutory organisations and businesses to ensure that they provide the right care, at the right time and in the right place, to African and Caribbean people with mental health support needs and their carers living in the West Midlands. CATALYST aims to develop, support and represent voluntary, social enterprises, grassroots initiatives, service user led organisations, businesses and African and Caribbean communities to enable them to improve the way mental health services are designed, delivered and received by African and Caribbean communities in the region.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) commissioned research into mental health and its impact on the public sector. This commission is believed to be the first of its type in the country. Following months of detailed work, the commission published its action plan, Thrive West Midlands, in January 2017. It aims to transform the way people with mental health problems are treated by public services and employers. The commission was chaired by Norman Lamb MP, former Minister of State for care and support. The commission identified the following key areas of enquiry:Employment and housing; Early intervention principles; Criminal justice/troubled individuals; Role of employers and Primary care
Dr Karen Newbigging joined the department as a Senior Lecturer in Healthcare Policy and Management in November 2013. Originally qualifying as a clinical psychologist, Newbigging has over 30 years experience in the health and social care sector, including direct service provision and commissioning. For the past 15 years Newbigging has been involved in research, consultancy and system development for a broad range of health and social care organisations including government. Her recent work has focused on the implementation of health and social care policy, patient and public involvement, advocacy and action to tackle health inequalities and discrimination. She has a particular interest in mental health, and is a core member of the Institute for Mental Health at the University. A Chartered Psychologist, she is also an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and a Senior Fellow of the School for Social Care.
BlackOut UK is a not-for-profit social enterprise run and owned by a volunteer collective of black gay men. The organisation recognises and celebrates the diversity of experience and views among black queer men in the UK (‘extending even to what call ourselves’) and are seeking to create spaces to explore and reflect on our commonalities and differences. While the editorial team maintains control over the quality of content, it is keen to reflect the diversity of its community and not to impose an orthodoxy of view or opinion. BlackOut UK believes that the whole can be greater than the sum of parts and are working to build a sense of community between black queer men in the UK. BlackOut UK will encourage and stimulate debate and discussion online and face-to-face through its website, writer workshops, networking events and supporting interventions to meet the needs of black queer men.
Leeds City Council commissions care and support services and is now responsible for public health which is a body of work that seeks to protect and improve health and wellbeing. The council is using its knowledge of our communities to tackle public health challenges such as smoking, alcohol and drug misuse and obesity. Leeds City Council works together with CCGs and health and care providers, community groups and other agencies, to prevent ill health by supporting people to live healthier lives. To strengthen the links between the CCG and the public health teams at Leeds City Council we have a Consultant in Public Health Medicine in attendance at our governing body. We have been working with Leeds City Council on a range of public health initiatives designed to tackle the health inequalities affecting our communities.
Manchester Museum is the UK’s leading university museum and part of the University of Manchester. The origins of The Manchester Museum lie in the collection of the Manchester manufacturer and collector John Leigh Philips (1761-1814). It displays works of archaeology, anthropology and natural history and is situated on Oxford Road at the heart of the university’s group of neo-Gothic buildings. It provides access to about 4.5 million items from every continent and serves both as a major visitor attraction and as a resource for academic research and teaching. It has around 430,000 visitors each year. The Museum expanded in 1977 into the former Dental School. In 1997 the Museum was awarded a £12.5 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and this, together with money from the European Regional Development Fund, the University of Manchester, the Wellcome Trust, The Wolfson Foundation and other sponsors has enabled the Museum to undertake the refurbishment and building which opened in 2003.
The Red Earth Collective uses the arts to create and inspire stories that stimulate thinking and dialogue about mental health. Its aim is to support and improve the mental health and wellbeing of marginalised and racialised communities. Red Earth works with professional and emerging artists, musicians and actors, that have experiencedmental health problems. It collaborates with the NHS, Statutory Services, Mental Health Charities, Faith Communities, Universities and Community Organisations to enhance their capacity to engage with and improvehealth outcomes for those they work with and support. In collaboration it creates and delivers innovative and sustainable programmes, campaigns and events, that use, theatre, music. film and discussion to raise awareness, challenge stereotypes and support mental health and wellbeing.
StereoHype programmes a series of events and an annual festival that uses the arts, live performance and discussion to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination experienced by African and Caribbean communities. Developed in 2002 by Sandra Griffithis while project director of the award-winning Mellow, an NHS East London Foundation Trust mental health programme targeting African and Caribbean communities. Now in its 17th year and relocated to the West Midlands, StereoHype has secured new funders and venue partners for the StereoHype programme. The StereoHype Festival 2019 festiavl has secured funding from the National Lottery, Birmingham City Council and the black Black Workers Support Group with sponsorship from Synergi.
SUGAR (Service Users and Carers Group Advising on Research) was founded in 2009 by Professor Alan Simpson and his colleagues in Mental Health Nursing Research at City University London. The researchers were keen to further develop service user and carer involvement across their programme of research and build long-term collaborative research relationships with members of local communities in East London. They wanted to ensure that a range of voices from those with lived experience of mental health services was heard in a systematic way by those conducting research into mental health nursing and services. Inspired by the motto ‘Nothing about us, without us’, the group currently consists of 13 service users and carers and meets with various mental health researchers once a month. Training and development is provided, and meetings are facilitated by members of the research team. SUGAR members discuss and contribute to various aspects of research projects, and the research process, and have also written journal papers and given conference workshops, presentations and posters. SUGAR has hosted a number of international visitors and recently won a national award for public engagement by universities.
BHA for Equality is a health and social care charity which exists to challenge and address health and social care inequalities and support individuals, families and communities to improve their health and wellbeing. The charity offers a range of services delivered at local, regional and national level in the areas of HIV and sexual health, cancer, TB, mental health, community health education and engaging and involving communities in health and social care decision-making. BHA develops services by engaging and involving communities who experience inequalities to identify needs, barriers and develop services. Its engagement and involvement teams offer services to statutory services, health and care regulators and others to help them reach out into communities whose voices are seldom heard or acted upon. BHA for Equality also supports smaller organisations with a range of infrastructure services, including financial management, HR, quality assurance and consultancy.