Faith in Mental Health

This is a two-year blended research and public education project to study mental health from an interfaith perspective with a twin focus on:

1. The development of public educational materials on faith, interfaith and mental health;
2. The study of issues concerning mental health and Muslim communities in England and Wales.

Our research question is:

What works to establish and sustain engagement and collaboration between mental health services and Muslim communities in England and Wales?

The project has three phases:

• A review of existing academic and non-academic literature on mental health and faith communities. This review will provide the means to compare mental health care experiences from Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities, and the potentially positive religious coping found within the Abrahamic traditions.
• A study of mental health care in Muslim communities in England and Wales. The project will build on the interfaith literature review, and will involve a series of interviews and focus groups with mental health care providers and initiatives from Muslim and other faith communities. A series of key findings will be published as recommendations for public mental health care services in England and Wales and will address two vital aspects:
  • Issues facing Muslims in England and Wales when accessing mental health services: barriers to access; suitability of mental health provision; training of mental health professionals; the role of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination, and more.
  • Issues facing Muslims in England and Wales from within their own communities, including: the stigmatisation of mental health; generational and cultural changes in relation to attitudes towards mental health care; the level of education and knowledge of mental health, and more.
• A programme of public education on faith, interfaith and mental health targeting both faith communities (with a focus on Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities) and mental health care practitioners and services. Returning to the theme of community-driven wisdom, the programme will seek to educate people from Abrahamic faith backgrounds, and those of all faiths and none, on the approaches to mental health found within Christian, Judaic and Islamic traditions. Moreover, this curriculum will provide much needed materials for the training of mental health professionals on helping individuals from faith backgrounds.