SCIE Resource guide 10: Commissioning and providing mental health advocacy for African and Caribbean men

Wider BME rather than specifically African and Caribbean focus may serve to promote broader commonalities of experience, and hence solidarity.

The sense of shared cultural identity may be somewhat diluted.

Unless the workforce adequately reflects the prospective clients’ breadth of cultural perspectives, the service may not meet the needs of specific groups.

As above.

Similar advantages to co-location with other mental health functions for African and Caribbean mental health services.

The potential exists to bring in some wider cultural perspectives on alternative services (such as eastern philosophies and complementary medicines) to complement African and Caribbean cultures.

As above.

There are relatively few such organisations in the broader picture of national mental health services, and those that do exist are often under-resourced or facing insecure futures.

Separate services are in and of themselves a barrier to a more inclusive mainstream service.

Capacity – and potentially choices – increased through access to a broader pool of advocates.

Profile within – and consequently ownership by – the community may be weaker.