Building Bridges in Liverpool: Delivering CAMHS to Black and Minority Ethnic Children and their Families

Headnote

ABSTRACT

The Building Bridges service was implemented as the result of an assessment of the psychological and mental health needs of black and minority ethnic children and families in Liverpool. This article describes the development of the service, and draws links between the existing literature, government legislation and implications for CAMHS.

KEYWORDS: CAMHS; MENTAL HEALTH; BME; CHILDREN; FAMILIES

Introduction

Children and adolescents from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities form a significant and growing proportion of young people in the United Kingdom (DoH, 2004a). However, their mental health needs have been largely ignored, and researchers and practitioners in the field continually point out the paucity of research and effective practice in this area. This is in stark contrast with the raft of policies, legislation and guidance that has been published by the Government over the past few years. This article reports on the development of a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) for BME children and their families in Liverpool over the past five years, linking it to the existing literature and government policy and guidance.

Accessibility and appropriateness OfCAMHS

The research evidence consistently shows that CAMH services are more accessible to some ethnic groups than others. Typically, children and families from South Asian communities are underrepresented among those refened and/ or attending compared with the local populations (Stern et al, 1990; Kramer et al, 2000; Lamb et al, 2002; Messent & Munell, 2003; Shah et al, 2004). Similarly, some studies have indicated that children and families from black Caribbean or black African communities are under-represented (Kramer et al, 2000; Daryanani et al, 2001). Messent & Murrell (2003) found that the African and black British/ Caribbean group was only slightly under-represented in their study, whereas the white UK group was overrepresented. However, these findings are compromised by the fact that the ethnicity of 30% of those referred to the service was 'Not Known'.

The route of referral and reasons for refenal to CAMHS have also been shown to differ for different ethnic groups; some, such as the African Caribbean families, experience more coercive routes of referral and present with more severe or urgent difficulties (Goodman & Richards, 1995; Messent & Murrell, 2003). Studies have found over-referral of white children by GPs, black and...