What is 1+1 Mental Health Project?

It is a collaborative Stronger Together Initiative – an early intervention bilingual Mental Health Support project being piloted in three areas across N. Ireland:

• Dungannon (Portuguese / English)
• Ballymena/Ballymoney (Polish / English)
• Belfast (Chinese / English)

Who does the project help?

Individuals in the minority ethnic community experiencing depression, including those ‘self-medicating’ with alcohol, prescription or recreational drugs.

How does it help participants?

• It raises awareness in BME communities of existing services
• It helps individuals find and negotiate the existing mainstream support services most appropriate to their need and support them in their journey in using these services effectively.
• It helps service providers negotiate the cultural and linguistic needs of the individual participants
• It helps build shared knowledge and experience of improving emotional well-being and mental health within minority ethnic population
• It helps identify those individuals in need of crisis intervention who are missed because of language or cultural challenges.

What does 1+1 not do?

• Provide Mental Health Services e.g. counselling, training, direct group activities etc. These already exist. It helps increase access to them.
• Provide free interpreting to providers who have a responsibility to deliver their services to everyone regardless of linguistic capability. The Regional Interpreting Service exists. It helps support access to that service.
• Meet the entire regional demand for such support. It helps inform shared learning on how to meet that demand in the future by creating more effective and diverse pathways to existing services and more diversity in delivery of those services.