About the resource
The rise of mental health issues in Muslim communities is a concern that is constantly raised in the course of our health work.
During our work in diabetes, cardio-vascular disease and perinatal mortality, nurses and doctors continually raised depression as a commonly occurring issue amongst their Muslim patients. There is a recognition that not enough is being done to tackle this in terms of education, for both patients and practitioners.
Any treatment is made more difficult by the fact that there is no direct translation for the word 'depression' in Urdu, Sylheti, Arabic and Somali, for instance.
As such, as a ‘Western’ illness with ‘Western’ treatment, effective support can be complicated, drawn-out and challenging.
Any treatment is made more difficult by the fact that there is no direct translation for the word 'depression' in Urdu, Sylheti, Arabic and Somali, for instance.
As such, as a ‘Western’ illness with ‘Western’ treatment, effective support can be complicated, drawn-out and challenging.
AT Medics, London's largest group of NHS GP practices, commissioned Maslaha to produce a resource focusing on mental health and depression. Through our research with doctors, nurses, patients and therapists, it became apparent that there was a lack of practical resources particularly amongst the Somali, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities, coupled with a very strong sense of stigma.
The stigma of 'mental illness' often means that those who don't feel well fear being isolated and ostracised from their community, so don't seek support.
For those who do seek support, there are often communication problems - linguistically, culturally and spiritually - with medical professionals. A number of health practitioners have commented on feeling limited in providing effective care and support, if the clients reach them at all.
In collaboration with Somali, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi community groups, counsellors, psychotherapists, clients, imams and GPs, Maslaha developed these four short films in three spoken languages (Somali, Urdu and Bengali/Sylheti) with English subtitles, which can be used by primary care practitioners with their clients, or with community groups.
The films combine medical and religious advice to find a new language of communication, address stigma, and demystify support and therapy.
Oct 2014: We are pleased to announce that the project has been honoured as 'overall winner' of the Innovation Mindset Challenge, an international competition run by Project Innovation in New York and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and Columbia University. We are now working with Project Innovation to create a short film about our work, which will form part of their toolkit, and be used in workshops around the world. Read more here.
The stigma of 'mental illness' often means that those who don't feel well fear being isolated and ostracised from their community, so don't seek support.
For those who do seek support, there are often communication problems - linguistically, culturally and spiritually - with medical professionals. A number of health practitioners have commented on feeling limited in providing effective care and support, if the clients reach them at all.
In collaboration with Somali, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi community groups, counsellors, psychotherapists, clients, imams and GPs, Maslaha developed these four short films in three spoken languages (Somali, Urdu and Bengali/Sylheti) with English subtitles, which can be used by primary care practitioners with their clients, or with community groups.
The films combine medical and religious advice to find a new language of communication, address stigma, and demystify support and therapy.
Oct 2014: We are pleased to announce that the project has been honoured as 'overall winner' of the Innovation Mindset Challenge, an international competition run by Project Innovation in New York and supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and Columbia University. We are now working with Project Innovation to create a short film about our work, which will form part of their toolkit, and be used in workshops around the world. Read more here.
About us
Maslaha is a social enterprise working to tackle immediate social issues affecting Muslim communities, and to create a greater understanding of Islam from a cultural and historical perspective.
AT Medics is London’s largest group of NHS GP practices, specialising in primary care, and works to provide innovative, high-quality healthcare with local communities co-designing the model of care. AT Medics commissioned and funded the resource.
Project partners
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