Moving Ahead
We are proud to be part the Moving Ahead project which aims to improve access and services for BME communities in our county.
Our Moving Ahead project is just going through a bit of revamp before we launch soon!
Keep checking back for more updated details about Moving Ahead and how we are working towards creating a more equal and equitable service for all in our community.
For now, you can find out more about the Moving Ahead project which launched in 2018!
How Moving Ahead started!
Throughout the United Kingdom, evidence showed BME communities had significantly poorer mental health outcomes and poorer experience of services. For some individuals, limited knowledge of available support and the ways to access it allowed mental health problems to become more entrenched and difficult to cope with.
As the largest provider of mental health and community services in Northamptonshire and as a response to the above, in 2015 we embarked on our ‘Moving Ahead’ project to improve access and services for BME communities.
Since then, the project has grown significantly focusing on key areas where there has been a need for change and improvement, as well as launching the community engagement programme in early 2018.
Throughout 2018 we provided Moving Ahead training to local communities which covered challenging subjects such as race equality, racial prejudice, stereo?typical assumptions made about BME communities, unconscious bias and information about how the NHS works and how to access services.
A total of over 100 people have attended our Moving Ahead training programme and feedback/evaluation has been positive. Trainees have come from our own staff, BME project members and stakeholder representatives from partner organisations.
Communtiy engagement events
We work in partnership with Northamptonshire Carers, Total Voice and Mind organisations in Northamptonshire to bring together health care services which support you or the ones your care for out in the community. Our previous community engagement events provided a space for people to come along and find out more about services available and speak with representatives for many different areas to increase knowledge and access.
Our inaugural BME conference
On 11 February 2019, we held the first of its kind conference in Northamptonshire on Black and Minority Ethnic Communities accessing mental health care. This conference is following the work undertaken as part of the ‘Moving Ahead’ project.
The conference brought together experts in the equality and mental health industry to talk about challenges BME people with mental health face and how organisations can improve service access to support them. The day included a packed agenda, with the morning covering topics on shaping services for BME communities, stigma in BME communities and lived experiences. In the afternoon there was a particular focus on the challenges we face in Northamptonshire and a talk on unconscious bias.
The conference saw local partners from across the county (including acute sector, Northants Police, EMAS, Northants Health and Wellbeing Board, Northants County Council, University of Northampton, Fire and Rescue and third part organisation colleagues) come together to join us on our journey to help reduce health inequalities in BME communities.
This is a positive move forward for the county and those within BME communities.