|PIC1|In the past years, Black Majority Churches (BMCs) have been filling up a critical care gap in failing mental health services in the UK.

During a visit to a London BMC in April, Prime Minister Tony Blair confirmed the significant role they play in meeting the community’s needs.

He told the congregation at Ruach Ministries in Brixton: “Churches such as yours have been the bedrock of our local communities. This can be seen in your work in schools, your contribution to welfare, your support for the vulnerable and the most needy.”

According to the recently published Count Me In Census, African Caribbean psychiatric patients are among the neediest in this community, more likely than any other ethic group to be detained on medium and high secure psychiatric wards.

|TOP|Initial findings from the English Church Census, a large scale survey undertaken by the Independent Christian Research Organisation indicate that 75% of African Caribbean’s attend church on a regular basis compared to 5% of white British white people.

Faith in God is almost the norm within the Black community particularly in London, according to Rev Paul Grey, consultant at the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) said: “For many people their faith determines how they govern their lives. It isn’t possible to communicate in any meaningful way without factoring this in. God goes to the very core of who they are.”

This point isn’t lost on the prime minister who told the congregation at Ruach. “Many people are unaware that almost half a million people from Britain’s African and Caribbean communities walk through the doors of a British church every week.” |AD|

Dr Oyepeju Raji is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatry’s Special Interest Group on Spirituality and is currently looking at how to bring spirituality into mental health training at the College. In a research paper entitled ‘Prayer and Medicine, a Healthy Alliance?’ she says “Afro-Caribbean Christian’s demonstrated the highest levels of confidence that prayer works.”

“Those who are spiritually minded have little knowledge of mental health services or the needs of those suffering from mental illness and experts in the field of mental health currently have little idea of faith or the needs of those in faith communities,” Dr Raji told CareandHealth.

“Here we are today looking at one in four people affected by this condition and yet there is very little awareness about this in the community. A lot of work that needs to be done is about bridging the gap between and helping people find out about how to deal and maybe even prevent some conditions.”