Tomorrow marks the start of South Asian Heritage Month, a joyous celebration of the rich and diverse tapestry of South Asian culture, traditions, and contributions to the UK. We are delighted to kick off this year's celebrations within the HRA under the theme 'Free to be me'.A blog by Lou Silver, Inclusion Manager
In 'Brown and Down', episode one of her abridged audio book Brown Girl Like Me, writer Jaspreet Kaur touches on why culturally adapted mental health support is essential.
“[The therapist] suggested I move out from home; become more independent and stand up to my family. She was completely unaware of how close-knit Punjabi families are, and how their love for me and my love for them was very much a part of my decision-making process. I felt so misunderstood and, if anything, more depressed.”
South Asian communities form the biggest ethnic minority group in the UK and common mental health disorders are more prevalent in this population than in the general population. However, people of South Asian heritage are less likely to access treatment, complete treatment, improve, or recover through treatment. You can read more about those statistics in the 2019 ethnic minority service user positive practice guide for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT - now known as ‘NHS Talking Therapies’).
More recently, a 2023 report commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory agrees, finding that Bangladeshi, Pakistani and ‘Other Asian’ ethnic groups (as well as people from Mixed White and Black Caribbean ethnic groups) have worse outcomes from mental health services than other minoritised ethnic groups.
So, what needs to change?
Culturally adapted care is certainly one piece of the puzzle. The IAPT guide explains this in more detail, citing the NIHR-funded ROSHNI-2 project for British South Asian women with postnatal depression as an example of good practice.
Hope continues to creep over the horizon, in the shape of a 2023 NHS England publication: a patient and carer race equality framework (PCREF). This outlines the participatory approach to anti-racism that mental health trusts and mental health providers should take to improve experiences of care for racialised and ethnically and culturally diverse communities. The framework sets out the legislative and regulatory context for advancing mental health equalities and provides practical steps to deliver culturally responsive care.
And so, with ongoing investment in health and social care research which leads to practical guidance to effect change, we can look forward to a day when nobody has to share sentences like this one:
“I live every day with the excruciating thought that if culturally appropriate care had been available for them, they would be alive today.” (PCREF Foreword, Dr Jacqui Dyer, MBE).