As part of the TDCs Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Health and Wellbeing project, we hosted our first culture specific event ‘All Our Voices’ to bring together people from diverse BME communities across the city to discuss mental health and wellbeing and share their understanding of issues and supports they have experienced.
The project will link with both the BME Needs Assessment for Brighton and Hove being led by the BME Needs Assessment Steering Group, which is looking at a wide range of issues facing BME communities in the city.
The response from local individuals, community based organisations and the statutory sector to the event was quite exciting and over 50 participants joined in to help Brighton & Hove Council and other local services understand what would benefit their community and enable them to live well in the various neighbourhoods of Brighton.
This was the first of many engagement opportunities and the feedback from attendees will be driving the project activities going forward. The participants certainly felt free to express their views and with translation and interpretation support available everyone felt they had a chance to give their views; but then this was about … All Our Voices!