Mental Health Advocacy and Support

The Roma Support Group’s current Mental Health Advocacy Project aims to:

• Improve Roma community members’ access to mental health services
• Empower Roma community members to communicate more openly about mental health issues
• Improve mental health professionals’ knowledge of Roma culture and help them to communicate more effectively with Roma service users.

The mental health advocacy team provides one-to-one support to clients in understanding mental health issues, identifying appropriate mental health services and explaining health needs to professionals. We additionally run monthly peer support group meetings in which project beneficiaries can come together and discuss issues and coping strategies in an open and supportive environment. To further facilitate our clients’ understanding of mental health, we have created leaflets for service users that explain common mental health issues and outline strategies for seeking out support.

We also offer  training sessions for health professionals, which are aimed at increasing awareness of Roma culture and providing effective communication and engagement techniques.

If you would like to refer a patient, are interested in a training session or would like to discuss this project further, please email simina@romasupportgroup.org.uk.

Watch a video about our work over the past 25 years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4gkB0rWOnY&t=4s