Black Mental Health UK: your news, policy and research resource on mental health and African Caribbean communities. We aim to reduce the inequalities in the treatment and care of people from African Caribbean communities and inform these communities on how to influence the strategic development, policy design and implementation of services.

This report looks at the fact that young black men, in particular, are heavily over-represented in the most restrictive part of mental health services and reviews the relationship between mental health services and African Caribbean communities highlighting how generally people from this community have an overwhelmingly negative experience of the services. 

Black people generally have an overwhelmingly negative experience of mental health services. They are getting the mental health services they don't want but not the ones they do or might want. This report brings to light the relationship between Black communities and mental health services have reached a point ‘where there are truly Circles of Fear.  Black people mistrust and often fear services, and staff are often wary of the Black community, fearing criticism and not knowing how to respond, and fearful of young Black men. The cycle is fuelled by prejudice, misunderstanding, misconceptions and sometimes racism.

Link to the report