ACP-UK welcomes the publication of the IAPT Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Service User Positive Practice Guide
Some months ago I was at the launch of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) practice guide. So at the very least it feels like a relief that NHS England have finally published these two guides – the full guide and a short version. I was particularly impressed at the launch at the process of developing the guidance, which was coproduced with a wide range of communities who were engaged in the process in a number of creative ways to make sure that their voices were heard. I have, therefore, been somewhat impatient to see the finished articles.
The published guidance does not disappoint. The short guide (10 pages) is a clearly written summary and in particular gives some of the background evidence well. It is a notable strength of the IAPT approach that these services not only collect data on who is accessing and benefitting them, but has analysed the data and, in these publications, attempted to address the issues that have been raised. The short guide also gives quick summaries of the key sections of the main guidance, namely service level changes to improve access, adapting therapy, engagement with service users and communities, workforce and staffing and an audit tool. This document is a good place to start if you want to get an overall feel for the recommendations or you want something to share with others to give a quick overview of the approach.
I suspect that clinical psychologists will want to engage with the full guidance more though, as this is where the real detail is, with some clear strategies for improving services and practice. Although it is much longer there has clearly been some thought put into making it easy to read and navigate, so start here if you know that you are going to want to really get into this in depth (and why wouldn’t you?). This is also the guidance where the clear collaborative approach to development shines through. Studded throughout is helpful detail, such as people’s reluctance to answer phone calls if the number is withheld. Clinical psychologists will find something of value throughout this document, from specific tips on direct therapy through to advice on organisation and system change. Overall this is a thoughtful document with a wealth of ideas to improving services from the perspective of BAME communities, which will benefit from careful reading and application to your particular setting.
You will have gathered that I am a bit of a fan of these publications, so are there any drawbacks? Well this is clearly pitched at IAPT services, which is a shame because there is very little that is not generalisable to all of the settings in which clinical psychologists work. It really would take very little to turn this into more general guidance, which might make it easier to pitch as an approach in other services. Whilst there is a wealth of advice on how to implement all of the guidance I was hoping to see a little more of the more imaginative approaches to engaging populations that are ‘hard to reach’. If you follow one of the authors, Saiqa Naz, on twitter (which I thoroughly recommend, not least because you will learn a lot more about Rochdale than you ever thought possible – @saiqa_naz) you will see some really inspiring examples of making mental health more accessible, for example her regular take over of Neville Southall’s account to promote men’s mental health.
In summary – if you want to make your service more accessible to BAME communities then you will find a wealth of ideas and tools to help you in these two guides. Do not be put off by the IAPT labelling if this is not where you work, this is grounded and easy to implement advice no matter what setting you may work in. Take inspiration and go out there and make a difference.