Marlborough Family Service Conferences
Asian & Arab Family Service
10 Year Celebration
1995 - 2005
Background
The Asian families counselling Service was established at the Marlborough Family Service in 1995, to provide for the unmet needs of the local Asian population. Observations by key staff at the Marlborough had acknowledged the relatively low uptake of therapeutic services by the large Bangladeshi population in Westminster and the challenges in engaging with families and communities. This mirrored the more general picture painted by research which attested to the lower rates of referral and use of therapeutic services by minority ethnic groups.
The Asian Families Counselling Service was an innovative attempt to address a gap in services and to develop a culturally competent therapeutic service which would engage local communities. The three targeted groups were the Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Chinese communities. Not only were these groups under represented in use of services, but also in the composition of staff and trained professionals. In an attempt to build capacity from within these communities six members of staff - two from each group - with some experience of mental health work and with language skills were recruited and offered training in systemic therapy. Although they enrolled in mainstream trainings they also partook in an in-house training programme which simultaneously contextualised ideas about health and illness within a cultural framework and actively privileged and encouraged the foregrounding of cultural knowledge. This tandem approach to theory and practice alongside culturally sensitive supervision has facilitated the integration of knowledge and the development of practitioners who are confident in working as mental health professionals in mainstream settings as well as in tackling issues of difference.
Early work focused on raising mental health awareness in the respective communities and networking to facilitate referrals. Systemic therapy was offered in clients' preferred language - Bengali, Sylheti, Urdu, Punjabi, Cantonese and Mandarin. Over the years we have seen a steady rise in referrals, with the service currently seeing an average of 125 new referrals each year in addition to ongoing cases. A large percentage of referrals come from voluntary community organisations, self-referrals, as well as established routes through GPs, Schools and Social Services. The service is thus well placed between communities, the voluntary sector and the statutory sector. The skills mix in the service - combining knowledge of mental health, mainstream settings and cultural and religious beliefs –has been invaluable in liaising between marginalized minority clients and the wider mental health system, as well as, facilitating the co-construction of culturally appropriate interventions. The dominant model of working is the systemic model, which offers a broad contextual perspective and focuses on a relational framework which accords well with Asian and Arab cultures that emphasise family ties and a relational self. Although much of the work involves families, we also see a significant number of individuals - including adolescents and adults. A large proportion of the work is carried out in clients' homes or community settings.
In the past two years the service has expanded to include a full time Arab worker, to address the needs of Arabic speaking communities, which now make up a significant percentage of the population in Westminster.
The Asian and Arab Families Counselling Service now consists of seven part-time members of staff and one full time member. In brief, it offers culturally competent and religiously sensitive therapy to minority ethnic families in a range of languages. It offers consultation to mental health professionals in the statutory and voluntary sector. It runs group work in community settings and schools and members are actively involved in raising awareness of the needs of minority ethnic communities within the community and amongst professionals. Earlier this year the service ran a highly successful ten-week short course for CAMHS staff on Cross Cultural Mental Health Care. The service is a culturally specialist service but integrated into the Marlborough - a mainstream multidisciplinary service - and seeks to facilitate and establish a dialogue and two way learning process between the communities we serve and mental health services.
In the future, alongside our clinical work, we aim to disseminate our learning through training and writing and to expand the service to meet the unmet needs of other minority ethnic groups. We are committed to continue contributing to building the capacity of the minority ethnic workforce through offering placements and trainings.
A Vote of Thanks
The service would like to thank key people, without whom its inception and progress would not have been possible: Ann Miller and Inga-Britt Krause for their deep commitment to equality and for setting up the service, as well as their continued support, also Ann Miller for her ongoing invaluable supervision, which continues to challenge us. Eia Asen, who as Service Co-Ordinator of the Marlborough Family Service has given us the space to develop and has not wavered in supporting us in our vision, and our colleagues at the Marlborough who have taken the journey with us. Finally, CNWL Mental Health Trust, especially Dr Peter Carter, Chief Executive and Karina Hedley, Service Director, who have been courageous in supporting 'a service with a difference' and have enabled us to sustain our work and keep developing.
Dr Rabia Malik
November 2005