What is 1+1 Mental Health Project?
It is a collaborative Stronger Together Initiative – an early intervention bilingual Mental Health Support project currently provided in three areas across N. Ireland:

• Dungannon
• Ballymena/Ballymoney
• Belfast

Who will the project help?

Individuals in the minority ethnic community experiencing mental and emotional difficulties (e.g. anxiety, depression) due to life pressures, including those ‘self-medicating’ with alcohol, prescription or recreational drugs.

Anyone with a language barrier seeking emotional support – we provide interpreters to those for whom communicating in the English language is problematic.

How will it help participants?

• It will raise awareness in BME communities of existing services
• It will help 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 will help service providers negotiate the cultural and linguistic needs of the individual participants
• It will help build shared knowledge and experience of improving emotional well-being and mental health within minority ethnic population
• It will help identify those individuals in need of crisis intervention who are missed because of language or cultural challenges.

What does 1+1 not do?

• Provide specialized Mental Health Services, such as counselling or group therapy, but it will help 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 will help support access to that service.
• Meet the entire regional demand for such support. It will help 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.

Where can the project be contacted for more information or support?

Ballymena/Ballymoney
Bilingual Mental Health Worker’s position currently vacant – for updates on recruitment e-mail: info@strongertogetherni.org

Belfast
Tin Wai Chan
Chinese Resource Centre (NI), 1 Stranmillis Embankment
Belfast, BT7 1GB,
Tel: 028 902 88277 Email: tin@cwa-ni.info

Dungannon
Virginia Salvador
STEP, The Junction, 12 Beechvalley Way, Dungannon BT70 1BS
Tel: 028 877 50211 Email: virginia.salvador@stepni.org