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

该项目旨在探索如何重新点燃温德鲁什一代的非洲-加勒比（A-C）民间故事和歌曲，以支持当今英国A-C社区的心理健康和福祉。这项工作发生在格林威治和刘易舍姆，因为他们有增长最快的加勒比社区在伦敦，因此，为我们提供了一个机会，调查这些心理健康问题。这项工作是由需要汇集不同世代的A-C人找到文化上合适的方式来支持这个社区内的心理健康。我们将使用民间故事和歌曲作为讨论文化观点的一种方式，共享和独特的代际经验，以创建一个文化上合适的心理健康工具包。民间故事和歌曲世代相传，并在社区成员之间分享。这支持身份，积极的心理健康和幸福在英国的A-C社区（亚瑟&惠特利，2015;约瑟夫，2020）。有证据表明，A-C民间传说，被定义为世代相传的传统信仰，习俗，故事和歌曲，已被用于促进A-C社区的心理健康和福祉（见约瑟夫，2020）。然而，很少有人注意到如何A-C民间歌曲和故事可以被用来作为一种赋权工具，以提高心理健康和福祉的A-C散居在英国的效用。A-C第一代（温德鲁什）人带着自己移民前的身份来到英国，能够反思他们对祖国、文化价值观、信仰和习俗的记忆。这为新的移民后身份提供了信息（Bogac，2009年）。然而，第二代和第三代A-C人与非洲或加勒比地区没有同样的联系。这几代人经常与“发展中的地方，身份和公民身份概念”作斗争（Lorick-Wilmot，2014：74），这可能会对他们的心理健康产生不利影响。在过去的50年里，英国的心理健康研究一直表明，与其他少数民族或白色群体相比，A-C更容易被诊断出心理健康问题（参见Edge et al.，2020年）。A-C社区比英国白人接触精神卫生服务的可能性高40%，因此，有必要为卫生专业人员和社区领导人提供适当的工具包。此外，来自A-C遗产的人更有可能根据《精神卫生法》被拘留，这反映了结构性种族主义的鲜明历史模式及其在精神卫生系统内随之而来的健康不平等（Vige，2019）。此外，由于与黑人和少数民族群体有关的体制、文化和社会经济排斥因素，获得精神保健服务的机会有限（Memon等人，2016）。在精神卫生实践方面，临床心理学领域通常“采取基于赤字的方法”（Renkly & Bertolini，2018）来解决社会中少数群体的心理健康问题。这种模式对来自A-C群体的人来说是有问题的，因为它强调个人而不是压迫系统，忽视了文化传统和社区为心理健康创造支持机制的方式（McCormack等人，2017年）。

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).