Re-igniting Windrush folk song and stories to improve African-Caribbean mental health disparities

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The project aims to explore how African-Caribbean (A-C) folk stories and songs from the Windrush generation can be re-ignited to support mental health and wellbeing of today's A-C community in the UK. This work takes place within the boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham since they have the fastest growing Caribbean communities in London and, as such, offer us an opportunity to investigate these mental health concerns.The work is driven by the need to bring together different generations of A-C people to find culturally appropriate ways to support mental health within this community. We will use folk stories and songs as a way into discussing cultural perspectives both, shared and unique generational experiences, to create a culturally appropriate mental health toolkit. Folk stories and songs are passed down generationally and shared between members of the community. This supports identities, positive mental health and well-being within A-C communities in the UK (Arthur & Whitley, 2015; Joseph, 2020). There is evidence suggesting that A-C folklore, defined as traditional beliefs, practices, stories and songs passed down generationally, have been used to promote mental health and well-being with A-C communities (see Joseph, 2020). Yet, little attention is given to the utility of how A-C folklore songs and stories can be used as an empowerment tool to enhance the mental health and well-being of the A-C diaspora in the UK. A-C first generation (Windrush) people came to the UK with their own pre-migration identities and were able to reflect on their memories of their home country, cultural values, beliefs and practices. This informed new, post-migration identities (Bogac, 2009). Second and third generation A-C people however do not have the same connection to Africa or the Caribbean. These generations often struggle with 'developing notions of place, identity and citizenship' (Lorick-Wilmot, 2014:74) and this may have detrimental effects on their mental health. Over the past 50 years, mental health research in the UK has consistently shown that A-Cs are more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues compared to other ethnic minorities or white groups (see Edge et al., 2020). A-C communities are 40% more likely than white-British people to come into contact with mental health services and, as such, an appropriate toolkit for health professionals and community leaders is necessary. Moreover, people from A-C heritage are more likely to be detained under the Mental Health Act reflecting a stark historical pattern of structural racism and its ensuing health inequalities within the mental health system (Vige, 2019). Additionally, access to mental healthcare services are limited as a result of institutional, cultural and socio-economic exclusion factors related to BME groups (Memon, et al., 2016). In regards to mental healthcare practice, the field of clinical psychology often 'assumes a deficit-based-approach' (Renkly & Bertolini, 2018) to the mental health of those minoritised by society. This model is problematic with those from A-C groups because it places emphasis on the individual rather than systems of oppression and ignores the ways cultural traditions and communities create supporting mechanisms for mental health (McCormack et al., 2017).