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.

Ultimately while we could agree that some groups may be more “at risk” than others as a result of cultural differences, sexual orientation etc, surely once the need is established everyone should be treated equally. So even if we accepted that a minoritised gender diverse person was more at risk of mental health issues, why is their need greater than a young white heterosexual boy with suicidal thoughts? The services advertised don’t compel the person to talk about issues related to cultural or gender diversity, they are led by the young person, so why those same services shouldn’t be available to all on the basis of need rather than background stumps me. I can actually understand funding diverted to raising awareness of mental heath support in communities where people may be more reluctant to access, but not making actual service provision dependent on identity.

Yes, exactly.

Fine if there needs to be extra outreach or whatever for certain groups.
But once actually accessing help, it should be based on the individual's need.

Are you holding yourself out as a charity providing services to the Bangladeshi community? If so, apply for this funding. If you are holding yourself out as a generic women’s charity then don’t take funding that would mean you have to restrict the women you can offer your services to as that would be unfair.

This - because it's a charity not an NHS Service.
However, it's a very strange criteria. Surely we can almost all say we live in a diverse community. How very odd.
Edited to ask, does that mean they are filtering according to post code? That's the only method I can think of that works.
Again, as a charity, they can do this.

Hilarious that you dismiss the voice of the black guy

Hilarious that keep you referring to 'the black guy' and don't even bother to learn his name, yet you expect me to believe your second hand tales on what he supposedly says.

I suggest you stop being so entitled.

I worked in the charity sector for years.

Services are commonly aimed at specific groups (refugees, women, people with mental health issues , carers...) based on needs and the charity's objectives and the funding they are able to secure.

In the case of Mind, local Minds are independent charities and they deliver their service based on local needs.

I think it is wrong to exclude but unfortunately it is very likely that this local Mind can do that by claiming that they are focusing on people who are less likely to be able to access conventional services because there is even more of a stigma around mental health in some communities.

Ultimately the real issue is that NHS mental services are underfunded, have long waiting lists and that there is only so much charities can do to pick up the slack.

An incorrect claim though, it appears there are many charities and foundations which target only ND individuals and they offer a great many services beyond just free online advice on a website.

• The Brain Charity: Offers free, in-person, and telephone counseling for individuals with any neurodivergent condition, as well as their families and caregivers. They provide specialist neuro-psychotherapy for adults with conditions like autism and ADHD.
• Action for Neurodiversity (AfN): A charity specialising in counselling for people with Autism/Asperger’s Syndrome and those around them, with a focus on neuro-divergent friendly,, long- or short-term therapy.
• Respect for All: A charity offering humanistic, neuro-affirmative, and client-led counselling for autistic and learning-disabled people (and their families).
• A Safe Space to Be Me (Northern Ireland):Provides ADHD-informed counselling, peer support spaces, and family workshops for neurodivergent individuals, focusing on a strengths-based, neuro-affirming approach.
• NeuroTribe UK: A therapist-led organization that offers specialized therapy for neurodivergent people, including those with dyslexia, dyspraxia, and ADHD.
• Unmasked Neurodiversity Network CIC: A neurodivergent-led, trauma-informed service offering both counseling and practical, community-based support.
• CASS (Counselling and Support Services):Provides neurodiversity coaching and counseling for people with autism/ADHD traits and their families across the UK, both face-to-face and online.
• Respond: Focuses on trauma-informed psychotherapy for people with learning disabilities and autistic people who have experienced abuse or violence.

We are a charity delivering services to vulnerable women of all ethnicities. I'm asking if people think we should refuse to apply for a funding stream that would require us to run a project that included only Bangladeshi women. Who are, after all, women, if this means our service could remain operational and provide a basis from which to access further funding streams. Or should we avoid this pot on principle and close to all women?

As I said in my comment local Minds are independent from Mind itself.

Odd. It seems to be part of the main MIND website. Are you sure they are independent/ don’t share MIND funding?

Close to all women. It’s sad but you cannot hold yourself out as a mainstream charity for all women - with people donating on that basis - and then discriminate as to who you help.

So you’d rather nobody gets support than some people? How does that help?

This is interesting.

I hope @Mindcultural , @Str0ganoff @Anonanonnona will all apologise now for begrudging the 480k brown people that receive the service that 4 million and 320k thousand white people receive!

But neither do we know that the OP experienced discrimination on grounds of race or ethnicity. We don’t know what culturally diverse communities means for this project, but we do know that the service available for young people of any sex, race or geography is currently full.

If you look at the Mind website and search for Local Minds ( which are independent), you will find Leeds Mind. Leeds Mind states as well that they are an independent charity "affiliated" with National Mind. So my point is they set up their own services and have their own Board of trustees and finances.

It doesn’t, ultimately, but if I give money to your generic women’s charity really don’t think you ought to be able to discriminate against me for not being Bangladeshi. How would you feel morally if you took my money then turned around and said that yeh I’m a women and yeh we said we’re a women’s charity but just not women like you. Feels a bit unethical? It should do.

But your money wouldn’t be going towards that specific project. It would be going towards the general services. The project would be funded separately.

But I would be giving money with the expectation that if I needed services I would be judged on my need, not on any other factors.

But someone said above that there were spaces on the girls service and the ‘culturally diverse service’. On what basis should the charity be allowed to discriminate for their services? Do you have a list of characteristics that are worthy and those that aren’t?

Watch the funding of charities collapse as they become more segregated. It is happening already.

You’re asking questions that would be unnecessary if you’d actually read about the service.

The law has a list, check it out.

Well you’re presumably an adult, so your need could not be met by this project that is for young people. Therefore you’d be discriminated against, in your eyes.

Just as you give money with an expectation, the funders of this project have given with the expectation that girls, and people from culturally diverse communities, will have specific targeted services.

Here's my Chat GPT's response to your Chat GPT copy and paste:

When you look at the evidence, both autistic children and Black and minority ethnic (BME) children face significant barriers in accessing mental‑health‑related support — but the nature of those barriers differs, and in many cases they overlap. The research suggests that BME children, including those who are autistic, often experience an additional layer of under‑service due to structural, cultural, and systemic factors.

Here’s a clearer breakdown.

🔍 What the evidence shows

Autistic children

• Autistic children in general face substantial barriers to accessing healthcare, including mental health services. These include long waiting times, lack of specialist provision, and services not being adapted to their communication or sensory needs.
• They are more likely to experience mental health difficulties but less likely to receive timely or appropriate support.

Black and minority ethnic (BME) children

• BME families face additional barriers such as language challenges, cultural stigma, and referral biases. These can delay or prevent access to autism assessment and mental health services.
• Autistic children within BME communities are less likely to be diagnosed, and families often have less access to relevant support services.

📊 So who is more underserved?

Based on the available evidence:
BME children — including those who are autistic — tend to be more underserved overall.

Why?

• They face all the barriers autistic children face, plus additional structural and cultural barriers linked to ethnicity.
• Research highlights inequalities in access for BME families even within specialist autism services.
• BME autistic children are less likely to be diagnosed, which means they may not even reach the point of being eligible for mental health charity support.

🧭 A simple way to think about it

If you imagine support access as a series of gates:

• Autistic children face many locked gates.
• BME autistic children face even more gates, and some are harder to unlock due to systemic biases and cultural barriers.

💡 Where this leaves mental health charities

Charities often aim to support both groups, but the evidence suggests:

• Autistic children need more adapted, autism‑informed mental health provision.
• BME children need culturally competent, accessible, and bias‑aware services.
• BME autistic children need both — and are currently the most underserved.

So don't give money to that charity. You can't dictate what others do though.

And you can't stop the sponsors giving the money to who they want to.

They will not of course. As you know facts do not tend to change the stance of people with the deep root attitudes displayed by these posters. I posted the facts because they might be of interest to open minded reasonable people who may want to look at a situation and then decide if white people are disadvantaged.
I have no hope of changing the minds of those who've already decided white people are disadvantaged and deliberately seek out and misrepresent situations to convince others of it. That's the very reason they're here after all.