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The arts and health agenda has experienced considerable expansion in the UK in recent years, against a backdrop of increasing social inequality and rising incidence of mental health problems. This paper explores the role of community arts in combating social and mental health inequalities as exemplified by one particular project, Art in Mind, in Nottingham, which is funded by England's New Deal for Communities programme and is designed to promote mental health. In describing Art in Mind's conceptualisation and implementation, attention is given to the importance of developing community networks that are designed to build social capital for participating groups and individuals, in order to combat health and social inequalities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an evaluation of the Community Stations Project. The Community Stations Project was designed to address railway suicides in two ways: by improving the station environment in a manner that might improve community members’ feelings of wellbeing; and raising community members’ awareness of poor mental health and likelihood of reaching out to at-risk individuals. It involved four types of interventions (arts and culture, music, food and coffee, and “special events”) delivered at four stations in Victoria.

A short anonymous survey was administered to community members on iPads at the four participating railway stations during the implementation of the interventions (between October and December 2016). The survey included questions about respondents’ demographics, their awareness of the intervention(s), their views of the station, their attitudes towards people with poor mental health and their emotional wellbeing.

A total of 1,309 people took part in the survey. Of these, 48 per cent of community members surveyed reporting noticing an intervention at their station. Noticing the events was associated with positive views of the station, improved understanding of poor mental health, and a greater likelihood of reaching out to someone who might be at risk of poor mental health. Awareness of intervention events was not associated with respondents’ own emotional wellbeing.

Continuing to focus efforts on mental health awareness activities may further strengthen the impact of the Community Stations Project interventions and ultimately prevent suicides at railway stations.

This paper evaluates a novel approach to improving wellbeing and understanding of poor mental health in the train station environment.

This research project explored how refugee community organisations (RCOs) could become more involved in the government's health agenda to improve the level of consultation and responsiveness in the design and provision of mental health services for ethnic minorities. The method involved a review of relevant literature, interviews with refugee community organisation leaders and community workers, and a survey of refugee service users' involvement with RCOs. The research found that the causes and effects of mental ill health in refugees as understood by interviewees were consistent with much of the literature in this area. The mental health needs of refugees are very similar across nationalities and ethnicities, and distinct from those of the general population and of other migrant groups. Appropriate responses, as understood by community leaders and professional community workers, are currently only partly and insufficiently provided by statutory health services, and there is extensive unmet need.

This paper looks at the evolving nature of mental health services. While there has been a shift from asylums to care in the community in recent decades, what is now needed is another shift of acute inpatient psychiatric care, away from psychiatric units to community hospitals and other community settings. It is argued that this would be a further step forward in the evolution of mental health services as it would benefit the service users, their families, carers and staff working in acute psychiatric inpatient units.

This article summarises what the Department of Health's (2005) Delivering Race Equality (DRE) agenda in mental health services set out to achieve and the background to this. The article then provides commentary on the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust's experiences while acting as one of the 18 focused implementation sites (FIS) created as part of the Department of Health's five‐year Delivering Race Equality Action Plan and highlights the recommendations that developed out of this work and have national application.

This paper describes the development of an evaluation framework to document the process, impact and outcomes of a community‐based mental health promotion project. This initiative, the Rural Mental Health Project, is concerned with the promotion of positive mental health in rural communities in the Republic and Northern Ireland. As a community‐based initiative, this project involves multi‐component interventions that are implemented with diverse target groups across a range of community settings. Assessing the process of programme implementation is critical in order to capture and document the realities of programme planning and implementation. The evaluation approach adopted in this project is based on a logic model research paradigm (Scheirer et al, 1995). This model gives equal emphasis to process and outcome evaluation and seeks to relate the realities of programme implementation to intended programme outcomes. Project activity is tracked prospectively in order to examine the detail of actual programme delivery and its influence on expected project outcomes. This paper outlines the model as applied in this project and explores the methodological and practical challenges in evaluating complex community interventions.

This paper describes some findings from an evaluation of the effectiveness of a community development project that aimed to overcome inequalities in mental health care experienced by members of the local black and minority ethnic (BME) communities. A participatory action research design was used, involving people from BME communities who had experienced mental health problems and external stakeholders. The study relied largely on qualitative methodology. Findings reported here indicate that participants in the project valued the culturally and spiritually relevant support they received, but felt that more opportunities were needed for training and employment, greater representation on the project's management committee, and greater awareness of the project in the community. External stakeholders felt that the project gained credibility from its community base and valued its ability to work across faith traditions and cultures. It was also seen as successful in acting as a bridge between the communities and statutory services, although there were concerns about the project's relationship with frontline services. The paper proposes two models of community development that primary care trusts may wish to adopt ‐ radical or consensus, or a mixture of both ‐ in order to address inequalities in mental health service provision.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the usefulness of the first Trialogue Meetings throughout Ireland for individuals from mental health communities by using a participatory action research (PAR) framework.

Seven communities participated in monthly Trialogue Meetings as a community-based PAR project. A mixed-methods PAR evaluation was performed on data from 48 participants (service users, service providers, family members/friends and interested community members) who participated in the final Trialogue Meetings.

Participants identified that Trialogue increased knowledge/awareness of mental health, irrespective of gender, mental health role, age or employment status. Trialogue Meetings provided a supportive environment for many, where men may be comfortable talking and where service providers may benefit from exposure to broader perspectives on mental health. Participants also perceived that Trialogue Meetings deconstructed pre-existing mental health power structures, allowed them to understand mental health from different perspectives and express themselves better.

The study identifies barriers to Trialogue efficacy such as low service provider engagement and political dynamics extraneous to the meetings themselves.

Where desirable conditions are present, Trialogue Meetings appear to be sustainable community development initiatives where pre-existing mental health power dynamics may be levelled and knowledge/communication surrounding mental health may be enhanced.

This is the first large-scale evaluation of the innovative Trialogue method among mental health stakeholders using a PAR approach.

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of the mental health needs of refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers living in an East Anglian seaside town with high rates of socio‐economic deprivation. Nine key informants were recruited from people working with refugees, asylum seekers and migrant workers, and from people who were either members of, or had extensive knowledge of the issues affecting the relevant communities. Barriers were reported both at the stage of seeking services and in accessing services once sought. Barriers to seeking services included different understandings of mental health problems, lack of acknowledgement, discussion and prioritisation of mental health problems, stigma, lack of knowledge of services, fear of authority and lack of trust. Barriers to access included previous negative experiences of accessing NHS services, resource limitations, lack of interpreting and translation services, and practical barriers such as transport and hours of appointments. The findings are discussed in relation to mental health service delivery and mental health promotion.

Forced migration and the resettlement experience combine to produce a set of social, cultural, economic and psychological challenges for forced migrants which may affect integration, mental and physical health, and access to health and social care. There is very little research on the resettlement experience of Ethiopian forced migrants in London, particularly on causes of mental illness and access to mental health care. Few studies have examined whether and how traditional beliefs and customs affect the experiences of this group in health care. The paper reports on a pilot study consisting of interviews with an Ethiopian priest, community leaders and Ethiopians working in the community health sector with the aims of improving our understanding of the issues, and to inform further study. Initial analysis suggests that this group faces multiple forms of disadvantage which affect mental health. A further interesting dynamic is the relation between lack of ‘help seeking behaviour’, due to cultural expectations and norms, and lack of access and engagement with Western treatments. Religious mechanisms and activities were also reported as bolstering coping mechanisms. Perhaps most significant was concern about the increasing suicide rate among this group, many respondents suggesting a direct causal link between suicide and maladjustment in exile.