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Respect for diversity

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Awards category sponsored by NHS Health Scotland Diversity Team

Shortlisted projects in this category were selected because they demonstrated best practice in addressing the specific mental health needs of individuals in relation to their gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, communication need, racial origin/ethnicity.

We were particularly keen to highlight projects that could show how they had influenced mainstream service development and/or delivered change in care to meet specific individual needs. Our shortlisting panel looked for evidence of

• consultation and engagement of an 'equalities' client group in care planning and/or service delivery
• developing skills and capacity of mainstream staff
• delivering information that is accessible and culturally appropriate
• developing peer support networks
• developing access to specialist services or collective advocacy

Click on the links below for more information on the projects

AWARD WINNER:

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Sanctuary

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With Scotland hosting a significant sized population of asylum seekers and refugees, who have a high incidence of mental health problems , the mental health needs of this population has become an important issue to address. Glasgow Anti-Stigma Partnership, who has developed a number of programmes to address stigma and discrimination in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, decided to develop a programme of work with asylum seekers and refugees.

Equally Connected - Highly Commended

Equally Connected is an action research project that uses community development approaches to learn from a range of Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities about:

• attitudes to, and experiences of, mental health

• what helps maintain well-being

• effective ways of challenging stigma and discrimination

This evidence is then used to improve understanding and help ensure that services and systems of care (such as the Integrated Care Pathway for people with depression) are designed to meet the needs of all communities within the Lothians.

LGBT Headspace - Highly Commended

The LGBT Centre for Health & Well being is a unique Healthy Living Centre that exists to address the health inequalities experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people living in, working in and travelling to Edinburgh.

LGBT people constitute a numerically significant yet often invisible minority. The adult LGBT population of Edinburgh is estimated at around 40,000. Whilst there have been significant changes in legislation over the past decade for this minority, the experience of LGBT people is that stigma, discrimination, prejudice and hate crime continue.

The Wah Kin Project - Highly Commended

The Wah Kin (Chinese health) Project works with the older Chinese community and primary care mental health teams (PCMHTs) in north and west Glasgow. We aim to increase accessibility of mental health services to Chinese people aged 50 and over. The partnership between Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH), which has long-term relationships with the older Chinese community, and Glasgow North Community Health and Care Partnership (CHCP), which runs the PCMHTs, provides a unique opportunity to do this.