BME groups and mental health

Issues you may encounter involving BME groups and mental health include:

• BME parents with mental health problems are more likely to experience poverty, unemployment and homelessness.
• Some common family structures, such as lone parenting, can increase the risks arising from isolation and lack of support for both parents and their children.
• People from BME communities are less well served by mental health services.
• BME parents with mental health problems are often reluctant to use existing services because these are often not culturally sensitive to their needs.
• Reluctance to access services may result in mental health problems becoming more severe before diagnosis, treatment and support is obtained.
• Mental health problems among BME parents, compounded by lack of treatment and support, can have enduring effects upon their children and contribute to their over-representation in the child care system.

For more information see:

• Rethink’s page and resources on black and minority ethnic groups
• The National BME Mental Health Network
• Delivering race equality in mental health care, a publication from the Department of Health