Kooth In The Community
It’s our mission to collaborate with and learn from as many people as possible, recognising that experts and experts-by-experience can help all of us find better mental health. Kooth teams work alongside many people - from those living with neurodiversity or illness, to new Mothers and faith groups - many of whom may feel unheard and marginalised.
Recognising the importance of reaching seldom-heard groups - and aligning with NHS England’s Core20PLUS5 programme - we have recently collaborated with members of the Muslim community.
Creating helpful resources rooted in lived experience
Our clinical content team is focused on creating written, audio and video content to support the mental health of people of all ages. In this collaborative project, the team worked alongside Muslim teachers and mental health practitioners and young Muslims born in the UK or who had moved to the UK from other countries.
We published multiple articles and personal stories covering topics such as:
- ‘Stigma and mental health and its effects in the Muslim community’
- ‘Why wearing a hijab is important to me’
- ‘Managing mental health through self-love and faith: a Muslim woman's perspective’
- ‘What it’s like to be a Muslim in Britain today’
- ‘What does Islam mean to me?’
- ‘Role models and representation in the Muslim community’, a podcast reflecting the views of a Muslim teacher on how faith and culture can impact mental health
Raising awareness among Muslim communities
It’s imperative that we ensure that when people come to us for support that they find accessible and helpful support readily. Equally, it’s critical that we ensure people know that we are there as a service. Work to raise awareness is done by our dedicated team of engagement leads who liaise with schools, colleges, GPs, charities and other vital organisations. The team offers resources as well as offering advice through webinars, school assemblies and events.
- We have worked alongside the Muslim Women's Network, Citizen's UK, Muslim teachers and mental health practitioners, a Muslim GP, as well as young Muslims
- Over the period of Ramadan, the engagement team has been presenting face to face in assemblies directly to young people in Muslim faith schools about seeking mental health support
- Kooth has also delivered national "KoothTalks Training" webinars to teachers, healthcare professionals and local organisations on the topic of "Overcoming mental health stigma in Muslim communities", which have been attended by almost 4,000 professionals. One of whom commented: "Working in a school with a large Muslim cohort, I cannot express how insightful this history lesson has been, and brilliant to be able to signpost our students and overcome barriers we so often see."
- The team has held coffee mornings for parents/carers to help them have open conversations about the importance of supporting their child's mental health. This has been supported by the creation of a bespoke Q&A booklet for Muslim parents.
