Positive Mental Health for Us

Cheshire West Voluntary Action (CWVA) and nine other community sector organisations have developed Positive Mental Health for Us, a project aiming to share the experiences of under-served communities and improve access to mental health support.

This project, which has been funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Promoting Equality and Diversity Fund, has been led by CWVA through its Mental Health Alliance.

Data and insight gathered by the Mental Health Alliance has shown that people from under-served communities can be at greater risk of mental health challenges and often face barriers when trying to access support.

The aim of this project is to enable people from these under-served communities to share their lived experience, highlighting the challenges and barriers they face and working with mental health providers and commissioners to improve support for people in future.

The community sector organisations involved have played an integral part with gathering lived and professional experience in the following areas.

• Cheshire and Warrington Race and Equality Centre (CHAWREC) – displaced persons
• Vesta – Polish community
• Irish Community Care – Gypsy, Traveller and Roma community
• Chester Pride – LGBTQIA+ community
• ND Directed – people with ADHD
• West Cheshire Autism Hub – people with autism
• Vision Support – people with significant sight loss
• Deafness Support Network (DSN) – people with significant hearing loss
• Café 71 at Spider Project – multiple under-served communities

An interactive resource has been created by the project team and can be accessed by clicking on the graphic below.

Please note that this resource will be reviewed and refreshed once a year with the latest data and insights.

If you have any questions about the project or how you can engage with it, please contact Andrew Herbert, Strategic Lead for Mental Health at CWVA: andrew.herbert@cwva.org.uk.