Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion
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Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion Patience Seebohm, Alison Gilchrist, David Morris
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Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion. Patience Seebohm, Alison Gilchrist, David Morris. Connect and Include An exploratory study of community development and mental health 2008. Patience Seebohm and Alison Gilchrist - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Bold but balanced: how community development contributes to mental health and inclusion
Bold but balanced: how community development
contributes to mental health and inclusion
Patience Seebohm, Alison Gilchrist,
David Morris
Connect and Include
An exploratory study of community development and mental health
2008
Patience Seebohm and Alison Gilchrist
Community Development Foundationcommissioned by
National Social Inclusion Programme
Available from: www.cdf.org.uk
Introduction
What we mean by ‘Bold but balanced’
Challenges
Policy implications
IntroductionCD limits:
CD must be part of a wider strategy for more equal, healthy society.
CD potential: Connect & Include explores what works.
A broad picture: Survey and 39 interviews in 8 sites
across England with CDWs, statutory sector staff, people using mental health services and a carer.
Our focus
Close but critical support
To groups and individuals experiencing
stress and distress
Enabling them to set up and sustain their
own initiatives
Connected within their community and
with the agencies they want to work with.
The argument
Bold but balanced CD promotes the
processes of
self-determination, collective action
& empowerment
which characterise community-led initiatives,
mental well-being, inclusion and
recovery from mental distress.
Well-being, Recovery, Inclusion
Hopeful
In control
Positive identity
Purposeful
Social relationships
Valued
Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Service
Created and controlled for and by the local community
Beat the Blues
A group run by and for people suffering from post-natal depression
Hamdard at
Sharing Voices, Bradford
Spiritual, Safe,
Creative and Educational
Set up for and by Muslim women in distress
Community-led initiatives
Controlled from within, by their members
Prioritise experiential knowledge Potential sites for:
Social relationships Personal development Political awareness Collective action to bring about service,
economic and social change.
The ‘bold but balanced’ CD approach
Taking time to gain trust
Enabling & challenging
On tap, not on top
Creating vibrancy
Bridging the gap
Challenges
Promoting a social model of distress (challenging the medical model)
Low status reduces influence
Evaluation methodologies require resources and may not convince statutory authorities
Policy implications
Good alignment with policy rhetoric but rarely acknowledged.
Requires long term investment, underpinned by values of equality and social justice, but…
Funding cuts, institutional resistance and reduced emphasis on collaboration and equality.
“By connecting people together…you are putting in place an informal support
system which is probably going to be more effective and long term than drugs”
