My job is so varied that no two days are the same. Currently, I spend a lot of time working with young people – in the Muslim community, people go to the imam and ask for help. But I find that young people are a lot more receptive to the work that I’m doing in raising awareness of what mental health problems are and where you can go for help and in trying to reduce the stigma.

So, on an average day, I might be organising sessions at the new youth project I run in conjunction with CREST (the Compact for Race Equality in South Tyneside). We run sessions on mental health, drugs, alcohol and sexual health for young people from across the BME and white communities in the area. They’re already very successful, with 70 young men and 25 young women attending every week.

I’ve also set up a link with ‘Fighting Fit’, a martial arts community group for young men run by BME youth workers. I’ve been supporting group members in making a DVD on what makes them anxious and stressed and I’m hoping to use this as a part of a toolkit for schools on mental health.

Working to discuss mental health issues with young people isn’t always easy. Many of them are suffering from a real identity crisis. They live westernised lives at school or work, but more traditional, community-based lives at home. On the plus side, the work I do with young people is becoming a tool to reach older members of the community.

My biggest challenge is raising awareness of mental health issues among communities who don’t even have a term for ‘mental health’. In South Tyneside, there are virtually no BME service users in mental health services. Those that exist only appear at real crisis points – when they’ve committed a serious crime, for example.

So I do a lot of work to try and engage these people. Community events are always a good vehicle for raising awareness. One of the most successful events I worked on coincided with both World Mental Health Day and Ramadan last October. We held an evening party to celebrate the breaking of the daily fast and over 350 people attended – 80% from BME communities.

In order to engage people, you have to get them involved. People are more inclined to listen to contemporaries in their own communities. I recently ran a project where I liaised with a local art studio to allow five groups of young men and women to have access to their resources. They produced some leaflets on mental health issues which have been widely accepted by the BME community who might have been more sceptical if presented with externally produced materials.

For more tips on how to engage with BME communities through events and leaflets please see our How To guides.