With a lot of stress, depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions affecting people in the UK and across the world because of COVID lockdowns, creating awareness of the symptoms and what to do when affected is now a priority to many people. A grant from The National Lottery Community Fund has enabled Leicester based community organisation Joy in Health (JIH) to do just that. On Saturday 26 February 2022, JIH launched a mental health awareness campaign in Leicester during a meeting of Manyu Association Leicestershire. The project titled “Mental Health Awareness for BAME women” will run for one year
Speaking during the occasion, JIH Project Manager Joy Chinwe Aguguo said mental health problems were very common and simply symptoms like insomnia or anxiety could hide a more deeper problem with a persons’ overall mental health and should never be treated lightly. “ We all suffer mental health problems at some point in our lives” she said and people should not be frightened to share their mental health challenges with their close friends or family members. Some of the tips Ms Aguguo recommended people adopt when they face mental health challenges included sleeping well, connecting and sharing their problems with others, take a break and when necessary, consult specialist healthcare professionals for help
Other Voices
The President of the Manyu Association Leicestershire Egbe Thompson thanked JIH for the initiative to help people especially those from BAME communities in highlighting their mental health vulnerabilities. He said coming on the heels of all the lockdowns that COVID 19 brought to the world, the project was particularly welcome.
Some members of the Manyu association also appreciated the gesture and promised to continue talking to others about mental health and why they need to support anybody they suspected could be depressed for whatever reason
The statistics
A report carried out by mental health charity MIND when they carried out a survey of over 14000 adults revealed that existing inequalities in housing, employment, finances and other issues have had a greater impact on the mental health of people from different black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) groups than white groups. The online survey showed that one in three BAME people admitted problems with housing made their mental health worse during the pandemic while unemployment affected their mental health by up to 61 percent and poor financial situations affected 52 percent of people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
According to JIH Project Manager Ms Aguguo, she and members of her organisation decided to run campaigns on mental health awareness across Leicester city because of the dire mental health statistics particularly in BAME communities. More mental health workshops and sessions will be organized with other BAME communities in the weeks and months ahead, she added.
