Limiting MH support to certain cultural areas?

[Mindcultural]

I have today received this message below from a mental health support service for young people.

AIBU to think it’s completely wrong to offer support based on cultural diversity and would like to know how they decide who fits this criteria?

Hi,

I’m getting touch as you have recently made a referral to our Youth In Mind services on behalf of a child or young person.

Unfortunately, we are having to reduce the size of the team for funding reasons, so we now only have funding to support young people from culturally diverse communities, if this is relevant for the individual you referred to us, please can I ask that you complete this form forms.office.com and we will be back in touch accordingly.

If we are now no longer able to offer support to the individual you have made a referral for, please accept our apologies for this. Please feel free to keep an eye on our website for updated information regarding available services as we are always looking for new funding opportunities to allow us to reach more children and young people.

Yep, particularly when using it to slam the door in the faces of very needy traumatised families who will be struggling to keep kids safe, alive, hold down jobs etc.

Yes my point was despite being personally not impacted by serious mental illness I dedicate a fair amount of my spare time to ensuring seriously mentally ill people get the best possible care within the parameters of my responsibility, but you are purely focused on your own needs.
It doesn’t make for a decent debate does it? I don’t think I’m the ignorant one. You can’t see past your own nose.

The issue is that they have streamed it at all though.

This reminds me of giving birth to my second child actually. I was alone and my midwife had referred to me to a support service to provide someone to be at the birth. But I was denied because I didnt meet the criteria of homeless, refugee or BAME background. The fact that cultural/racial identity can be used in this way is really wrong. Just because people on here seem to think it’s discrimination against the right race of people doesn’t make it right. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I absolutely am not. You know nothing about me.

I’ve lived with caring for mentally ill children for many years , I’ve been battling for care for many years and have been surrounded by people equally in need across support groups, charities, my line of work etc etc .

Ive seen first hand that MH services and support should always be provided according to need and more importantly how much worse things get when this doesn’t happen.

No it isn't. Medical treatment for each ailment should be based on medical need.

Other posters have mentioned psychosis. Whoever is experiencing this needs to be sectioned. Pretty straightforward.

If you want to go through all charity and research grants aimed at specific groups of people and challenge or expose them or find their income source go boycott them you are going to be a busy cucumber. Everyday for the rest of your life

No, just as every single other charity is aimed at targeting a particular cause.

The charity only works with children under 19 unless they have additional needs and then they can access support until the age of 25. Should those young adults not be able to access further support because it’s not fair on other young people being cut off at 19?

Are all those in favour also in favour of a highly segregated society?. From where you live, where you shop, gyms you attend etc. after all you can't have it both ways.

Those donating are doing so thinking it produces support for all children with additional needs under 19. Not just for those that aren’t white. They are campaigning under false pretences and it needs to be called out. Other donators should be made aware so they can move donations to more inclusive charities if they so wish. Also said charity should definitely not be promoted by the NHS .

Young people have particular medical needs. That’s why we have paediatricians. And child psychologists. Gearing your charity up to meet certain medical needs is fine.

That’s odd - you may follow Tommy Robinson on Facebook but I’ve never seen him on there. You know it looks at the sort of material you are interested in and the algorithm does its thing.

Hilarious that you dismiss the voice of the black guy who is clearly far more knowledgeable than you about the history of slavery. I suggest you read up a bit more.

The law exists though (EA 2010), and, on the face of it, it looks like Leeds Mind may be in breach of it with this condition. Its charitable objects don’t restrict to a “diverse” user base and in the absence of that the conditions upon which a charity can lawfully discriminate on grounds of a PC are fairly narrow.

Most of the responses you call “decent”, and the one you highlight yourself, is about funding and funder stipulations. They don’t override EA 2010 though.

I’m also not convinced by your idea that people must earn the right to flag potentially unlawful discrimination through virtuous works, or that flagging instances of it isn’t itself valuable.

Hypothetical: a charity-funded nursing home decides it will no longer admit black residents. This is because it has managed to secure some funding from a trust that is set up to benefit descendants of Huguenots, few of whom are black.

Legal now? No.

If the daughter of a black person queried this on MN, would that be a reasonable thing to do? Yes.

You reply to her to tell her that she should try running a nursing home and until she has done that she should shut up with her “hate”. A reasonable reply to her? No.

While Mind is an independent charity and not part of the NHS itself, it is heavily involved in supporting NHS services and is recommended to the public as a source of support.
Here is how Mind is promoted and used by the NHS:

• "Every Mind Matters": The NHS officially partners with Mind on campaigns like "Every Mind Matters," where Mind is listed as a key partner alongside other organizations, and their resources are recommended for improving mental health.
• Local Mind Services: Local "Mind" associations often operate in partnership with the NHS, providing services like advocacy, housing, and counseling that complement NHS care.
• Funded Partner: Some local Mind associations receive a significant portion of their funding from local government and NHS grants (in some cases, up to 74% of their income).
• Collaboration: Mind works directly with NHS England on policy development and, at times, leads or contributes to national mental health taskforces and strategies.
• Source of Information: NHS websites often signpost to Mind's online advice and Infoline for specialized, in-depth mental health information.
• Mind +7

In summary, the NHS acknowledges Mind as a trusted partner and frequently directs patients to their services for support, particularly regarding mental health, advocacy, and community-based care.

So basically parents of struggling children and young people are fobbed off by the NHS to MIND who are now slamming the door in the faces of white children. Tax payers money shouldn’t be spent on discrimination and actually if what you are directed to from the NHS excludes you the NHS should maybe be baring that in mind and prioritising white children who now won’t get any support what so ever. See how unpleasant it all gets.

How about we just allocate provision based on need.

@Cucumberino
I’d have less of an issue if MIND advertised themselves as a charity for the mental health of the culturally diverse (whatever that may mean) and then we’d know. But they don’t. OP had an expectation of this mainstream charity helping her in an equal manner, and they didn’t.

In the letter OP posted it stated that the charity has had reduce the size of the team for funding reasons. The charity has funding for a set critera, I understand that cultrally diverse is a vague term but no where on that letter does it say we are not considering applications from white british as OP is suggesting.
The point i'm trying to make is that there may well be another Mental Health Charity who has specific funding for the white british demographic it's just that we don't have a list of charities and financial details. However let's say they do, I would not be outraged by that if charity did support that demographic more as more than likely there is the case that they have higher numbers / group is underrepresented/ sharp increase of patients within that demographic etc. There is normally data to support stipulations around funding, they don't just make it up.
Most charities are designed to help support the shortfall of services or are set up by people who want to help or have experianced tragic circumstances, it was never designed as a service for all, hence why we have lots of different charities offering different services for different groups. For everyone who keeps repeating need not identity, people with the urgent needs will be prioritised by the NHS as they should be.

Can you explain how refusing m/h support to a child because of their skin colour is ‘inclusion’?

I remain gobsmacked at how many on this thread totally condone racism as long as it’s against white people but still think they are the righteous ones.

Or is your post a joke?

You shown from your comments that you have been perfectly happy to avail of charities which are only aimed at certain groups, either only men or only those with neurodivergence. You didn’t moan about them being closed to certain people, you tried to use them. Your only issue with those restricted charities is they didn’t offer enough services in your opinion but you were still perfectly happy with the thought of using them with them as their restrictions included your son.
You do not have an issue with charities not being open to everyone, you have an issue with this charity not being open theoretically to your son so frankly your comments hold absolutely no weight.

I beg your pardon the charities I’ve used have been inclusive to everybody.

Frankly if we’d had the door slammed in our faces for being white I’d have gone under and I doubt my dc would be here.

There is an entire exemption in the equalities act that covers exactly this situation.

What like the autistic society?

charities for certain age groups or ND are meeting a CLINICAL NEED not being discriminatory. Goodness, some people.

You discussed specifically several charities which aim to serve certain people within certain aspects of the ND spectrum and your experience with using them. You can’t change your tune now, your posts are there.

Seeing how big they are and linked to the NHS this just isn't ok.

The NHS tells desperate parents to go to MIND instead of the NHS. White parents are then told to go away so have nothing. What are they supposed to do? These are struggling vulnerable children.

And don’t forget apparently ND people are culturally diverse too.

Such as?