REPORTS
Hidden Survivors: Uncovering the Mental Health Struggles of Young British Muslims
BCBN, in partnership with the University of East London, School of Psychology launched a landmark report on mental health in the Muslim community ‘Hidden Survivors’, a report on the mental health of young British Muslims. The report highlights the need to address the causes of poor health outcomes among minority ethnic groups by tackling structural racism and negative experiences that deter Muslims from accessing services, as well the importance of faith and culturally sensitive services to improve health outcomes.
The report was built off the back of a growing concern within Muslim communities across the UK regarding young Muslims mental well-being against a climate of increased economic and social challenges, growing Islamophobia in the media and online, and the academic pressures of youth. Our report takes a thorough look at the obstacles faced by young Muslims in their battle to maintain their mental health. We centre their voices to make key recommendations to ensure positive, impactful change for some of the most vulnerable and economically disadvantaged young people in British Society.
The Muslim Fostering Report: A Review of Practice and Legislative Frameworks and Existing Literature
The Muslim Fostering Project report summarises the findings of the project and highlights the importance of training and support for non-Muslim foster carers looking after Muslim children. Recommendations include:
- Fostering services should consider how fostering service staff are trained and supported to conduct initial visits and assessment of Muslim applicants to fostering.
- Fostering services should review their recruitment literature and assess how it responds to the needs of a prospective Muslim foster carer and the wider Muslim community.
- The importance of collecting data about number of Muslim looked after children and how a child or young person’s faith is taken into account when being placed with a foster family. Fostering services should identify the resources needed for its foster carers caring for a child with a different faith to their own.
Women in Prison: Mental Health and Well-being – A Guide for Prison Staff
People in prison have a disproportionately high rate of poor mental health, and research shows these rates are even higher for women in prison. While primary care remains the responsibility of healthcare professionals, frontline prison staff play an important role in protecting and addressing mental health needs of women in prison.
Penal Reform International (PRI), in partnership with the Prison Reform Trust (PRT), has published a guide for prison and probation staff to help them understand how prison life can affect a person’s mental health, with a focus on women. The guide aims to break down the stigma and discrimination attached to poor mental health, especially for women in prison.
This guide is written to help understand how life in prison can affect a person’s mental health, with a focus on women. It describes how to recognise the signs of poor mental health and how best to respond. It also includes a checklist based on international human rights standards aimed to help with the implementation of key aspects of prison reform and advocacy initiatives in line with international standards and norms.