SPN recently received news that it’s joint Third Sector funding bid to develop a diagnostic toolkit on BME advocacy successfully got through to Stage 2. Stage 2 requires development of the outline submitted for Stage 1 last month.
“We are especially delighted as this is the first time that SPN has got through to the second round of this tough Department of Health funding stream. The odds have evened out somewhat due to eliminations of the unsuccessful bids at Stage 1 and we shall work hard to ensure we put together a strong application for the second stage” said SPN Director Terry Bamford.
The proposal for the diagnostic BME toolkit aims to increase the capacity of health, social care and third sector organisations delivering mental health advocacy to BME communities to deliver culturally appropriate advocacy. The toolkit will help organisations develop standards, monitoring and evaluation protocols and training framework. Raza Griffiths, SPN Joint Project Co-ordinator burnt the midnight oil to get the proposal together with help from partners freelance BME service user researcher Jayasree Kalathil and John Mayford of Advocacy Resource Exchange. Hanif Bobat of Black Health Agency in Manchester and Paul Munim of CEMVO also lent their support.
Raza explained: “When we say diagnostic toolkit, we mean that we will not aim to produce a ‘hymn sheet’ that everyone will have to rigidly conform to. Instead, we will seek to actively engage commissioners and providers of BME advocacy services in the effective planning, delivery and evaluation of BME advocacy services through engagement with BME service users. This is the way to effect real change. The better communication and understanding of cross sector partnership working between statutory and third sectors and BME communities will also result in enhanced ability to tap into the resources of the BME third sector and BME service users, in particular, more positive engagement of BME users with services and less fear and misunderstanding of BME service users by service providers”.
Jayasree, who did some preliminary investigations to establish the need for such a proposal, said “what is unique about our proposal is that the standards will be BME service user led, unlike existing standards.”
John Mayford’s Supported Voices Project at ARX has highlighted that organisations working in the field need help in working around BME mental health advocacy. “The Supported Voices consultation expressed the fact that advocacy providers need guidance around developing a culturally appropriate mental health advocacy service”.
“The bid partners through their collective networks have a well developed infrastructure with access to BME communities including BME mental health service users as well as the full range of players which impact on BME mental health advocacy including commissioners. But we now have the task of developing our bid in greater detail for the 14 November deadline for the final (stage 2) deadline. So probably more midnight oil burning for us!” Said Raza.
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