By Asia Samachar | Britain |
A new mental health project with the ambition of upskilling the British Punjabi community and supporting it around mental health, has begun in West Yorkshire.
The Social Connections challenge, developed in partnership by Taraki, who work with Punjabi communities to reshape approaches to mental health, and men’s health charity Movember will see the establishment of a men’s peer support network which will work closely with the Punjabi community to cultivate and strengthen the social connections of men, particularly those who may be struggling with their mental health.
The pilot project, which has begun in West Yorkshire, will see the delivery of peer support training to local mental health champions to provide them with the necessary tools and support so they can cultivate peer support groups in their local communities. Eighteen mental health champions will be trained over a six-month period, through the delivery of 12 uniquely designed training sessions, according to a joint statement by the two organisations.
The projects builds on Taraki’s Chai in the City project, which started in 2018, to create spaces specifically for Punjabi men to listen, learn, share and grow, with a focus on mental health, well-being and other facets of life. With Movember’s support of £66,000, the key learnings from Chai in the City will be condensed into a toolkit to help develop organisations and their capacity to scale such spaces within Punjabi communities.
A year in the making, Taraki have started piloting the curriculum with partner organisations, The Heera Foundation (Leicester) and Sikh Alliance (Yorkshire).
Heera Foundation mental health champion Amrita Sohal said: ‘With an increasing awareness of mental health within the Punjabi and wider South Asian community, we are really grateful for the opportunity to work and train with Taraki to better equip our volunteers to facilitate safe peer support spaces for Punjabi men. We are excited by the potential of the programme where Punjabi men can build community, feel accepted and understood, as well as learn from each other’s experiences.”
Sikh Alliance Yorkshire communications & engagement lead Dylan Singh Bhandal said they look forward to working with Taraki to establish a network of men’s peer support workers, with the hope of upskilling the community and supporting it around mental health.
“We believe the establishment of the peer support network will help our community get the support it needs in a more self-sufficient and personal way,” he said in the statement.
Taraki founder Shuranjeet Singh said the training allows the community to build on its Chai in the City work to create important spaces for mental health and well-being.
“Our ambition is to build a UK-wide network of skilled, confident and capable Punjabi men’s peer support facilitators, working in their local communities so that collectively there is greater level of support and care for Punjabi men and their mental wellbeing,” he said.
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