Ric Bowl
UK literature on mental health services for black service users relies heavily on perceptions of professionals, carers and community representatives. This paper focuses solely on the views of service users on existing services and how they might be improved. It is based on thematic analysis of material derived from focus groups and individual interviews conducted with South Asian and African- Caribbean mental health service users within one local area. It considers the implications for the likelihood of the current UK government’s initiative Delivering Race Equality achieving significant improvement in services for black service users. The analysis highlights the role of socioeconomic exclusion in shaping black service users’ experiences of mental health problems and that this is a barrier to achieving a reduction in black and ethnic minority hospital admissions. Cultural and institutional exclusion compound this, leading to continuing insensitivity towards the needs of black service users within both hospital and communitybased services. The participants supported many of the initiatives outlined in Delivering Race Equality andwanted to see more culturally appropriate services for recovery; further development of the cultural competence of staff within mainstream services; and educational programmes about mental health directed at minority communities. It was a source of particular disquiet to participants that they perceived so little response by mental health services to their consistently expressed views about what was needed. The paper concludes that more systematic consultation with black service users and a commitment to change within mainstream services is essential, or insensitivity to ethnic diversity will remain a defining characteristic of UK mental health services.
