For the past five years mental health services provider Certitude has supported the Happy Soul Festival as a way to engage people from BME backgrounds. Paula Scott reports on how this bold strategy appears to be paying off.
For people in and around six London boroughs, the annual free Happy Soul Festival in May and June is an established part of the social calendar. But not only does the festival celebrate black and minority ethnic (BME) film, music and art, it also explores themes around mental health and wellbeing – something that is often not spoken about.
Nicholas Campbell-Watts, director of mental health for Certitude, believes that involvement in community projects like this is an essential part of the organisation’s role as a support provider at local level.
“Mental health is a difficult subject for black, minority and ethnic communities to discuss,” he says. “By putting ourselves out into the communities we support through festivals like Happy Soul we can address this taboo through the medium of the arts. People are more inclined to discuss a film or song which tackles mental health issues than they are to talk about themselves.
“We work in many London boroughs which have large BME communities – Brent, for example, has a 57% ethnic population and is one of the most diverse areas in London – so we have to be innovative in our approach if we are to reach the people who could benefit from more mental health awareness.”
Certitude has past expertise in working with BME communities. When Southside Partnership merged with Support for Living in 2010 to create Certitude, culturally specific work under the Fanon banner was part of the package. Fanon refers to support services provided by people from BME backgrounds for people from BME backgrounds. It takes its name from Frantz Fanon, the Martinique-born philosopher, psychiatrist and doctor who wrote extensively on the effect of race on mental health. It is a name that is rich in history and heritage and is important and understood within BME communities.
“In our experience, people from BME backgrounds can leave it too late before accessing mental health support because of previous negative experiences of seeking help,” Campbell-Watts says. “This can lead to a situation reaching a crisis before any action is taken and that action is then more likely to be coercive. We want to encourage BME communities to start to talk and connect with all the mental health support and advice we and other agencies provide, before extreme measures are required.
“Projects like the Happy Soul Festival are an opportunity to connect with people while they are relaxed and having fun in ordinary community venues; it gives us the chance to open up the subject of mental health and talk about it in a way which is non-stigmatising.”
Connect
However, this was not simply a case of associating the Certitude name with the festival. Marianne Selby-Boothroyd, director of development at Certitude, was determined that the organisation’s Happy Soul events would work hard to achieve their goals.
“The Happy Soul Festival events are interesting, thought-provoking and fun, but their main purpose is to encourage more people, who need help with mental health problems, to come to us for support and recovery.
“At this year’s Happy Soul Festival, Certitude supported a number of events, all of which were underpinned by the widely-recognised ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’; connect, take notice, be active, keep learning and give.
“Social and cognitive studies have indicated that messages communicated via the media – be that movies, TV or theatre – can be more influential in changing attitudes than a direct therapeutic approach. People have time to think about what they have seen and reflect on it after the event.”
This was the thinking behind ‘Asian Soul’, which was a screening of two films: Dawn of Hope, which tracks four individuals whose lives intertwine through the experience of depression and Open Secrets, which tells the story of an Asian man who is so embarrassed about his mental health problems that he lies to his family.
The screening was followed by a question and answer session that gave the audience the opportunity to talk about mental health issues by discussing the films. But it wasn’t all serious, and in keeping with the theme of wellbeing, guests were offered complementary therapies, Indian snacks and Bollywood dancing classes after the film.
Salma Shah is a community development worker for Certitude and part of the team that planned and delivered many of the Happy Soul Festival events:
“Over 120 people attended this event at the Indian Association in Brent,” she says. “The interactive Q&A session was a good opportunity to address the stigma of mental health and raise awareness of the issues it throws up amongst the Indian community.”
Be Active
Shah also attended Certitude’s ‘Be Active’ sports and activity sessions, which took place in two North London parks.
“Being active plays an important part in good mental health. We organised two outdoor sports and activity sessions and we were lucky, we had a beautiful sunny day. Over 150 people turned out to enjoy the free gym, massage, and sports sessions and the ‘Laughing Yoga’ classes were particularly popular. This form of yoga combines breathing, stretching and laughter in a way which is guaranteed to make you feel better!
“Because we also wanted to communicate the influence of eating well on mental health, we provided water and fruit as refreshments. Real enthusiasts could even squeeze their own fresh juice by climbing on the ‘Juice Bike’ and pedalling.
“For people who were ready to take in more information, Certitude set up stalls manned by mental health advisers and provided leaflets about the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’. Everyone attending walked away with a ‘Certitude Happy Soul Festival Goody Bag’ containing more fruit, cereal bars and a drink.”
Keep learning
Elsewhere, competition was so fierce to perform at Certitude’s ‘Creative Ways to Wellbeing’ event that the organisation undertook auditions at several London youth centres. Street dancers, singers and artists combined for the show that set out to perform all five of the ways to wellbeing.
“Some of the people appearing in the show have used our mental health services before, but many hadn’t,” says Shah. “This was an opportunity to really engage with young people about mental health in an environment that was relevant and relaxed. It’s no good for organisations like ours to sit back and wait for people from BME communities to come to us. In the majority of cases it doesn’t work like that, we have to reach out into the community and put mental health into a relevant context.”
Rewards
The Happy Soul Festival has been running for six years and is well-established and supported in its local communities. Among BME communities it has increasing credibility and appeal.
Stuart Thomson, director of the Happy Soul Festival, has plans to expand it further in the coming years: “Almost 3,000 people attended our events over a period of two weeks. The feedback has been excellent and we are now investigating incorporating the prison service as well as working around World Mental Health Day and Black History Month.”
Certitude was quick to recognise the potential benefits of collaborating with this event and now they, and the people they support, are reaping the rewards. Certitude’s involvement with Happy Soul is proof that even when mental health services are under pressure, a creative approach can deliver value for money.
