Annual review 2007/08
In your area
South East
Making a difference
This year we’ve been busy modernising and improving our services and implementing new innovative projects. We work in seven counties with 40 services and 26 user and carer support groups, and at our last count, nearly 500 people were using our services in the region in just one day.
Making it happen
- In partnership with North West Kent Racial Equality Council, Rethink Sahayak organised the Sadi Awaaz Suno (Listen to our Voices) event at the Woodville Halls in Gravesham. It looked at issues such as domestic violence, forced marriages, women’s health issues and the different support services available to women.
- Following a successful tender to West Sussex PCT we’re providing a Community Development Service for BME groups focusing on travellers in partnership with Families, Friend and Travellers and Crawley Ethnic Minority Partnership.
- We were asked by Kent and Medway PCT to provide thirteen Community Development Workers for Black, Minority and Ethnic Groups.
- In the Lewes and Havens Area a workshop was run for service users on improving access to talking therapies and we provided a course called Toolkit for Living.
- After another successful tender East Berkshire PCT asked us to provide a Mental Health Promotion service in Slough to deliver Standard 1 of the National Service Framework (NSF) and also link with other agendas for Suicide Prevention (Standard 7 of the NSF), NSFs for Older People and for Children, and the commitment to improve mental wellbeing in the White Paper ‘Our health, Our care. Our say’.
Making an impact
- 450 women and young girls over the age of 14 attended the Sadi Awaaz Suno event. They were all informed about issues related to Asian women and encouraged to seek outside support if ever put in a difficult situation.
- For the next 3 years our BME Community Development Service will play a key role in engaging with communities in West Sussex and identifying gaps in service provision.
- Our BME Community Development Service will have two Senior CDWs and eleven CDW officers working to reduce and eliminate ethnic inequalities in mental health service experience and outcome. They will bridge the gap between western models of care and traditional support structures.
- Our successful Service User Engagement project secured us another tender for a similar project in Eastbourne.
- Our Mental Health Promotion Service will be co-ordinating multi-agency action in the area according to local strategies, taking account of local needs and working with the support of the Slough Mental Health Local Implementation Team.
Moving forward
- Rethink Sahayak will continue to work in partnership with the North West Kent Racial Equality Council, and statutory and community partners, to make a positive difference to Asian women.
- Our BME Community Development Service will provide 6 full-time workers working across the related agencies and the BME community.
- Our engagement projects are developing service user groups and looking forward to receiving the Rethink Politics training in the near future.
- Our newly contracted services will be working with partners and funders to set up the services according to plans.
Moving you forward
If you would like more information about our services in the South East Region please contact 01256 479606 or email rich.james@rethink.org.
