Two Bradford women who quit their desk jobs to pioneer a mental health service for South Asian women in the city are celebrating after being given new funding for the project, and they say they now hope to see it introduced throughout the UK. PETER KEANE’s been finding out more…
FACTS
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has predicted that by 2020, depression will be the second biggest health problem worldwide, behind heart disease.Founder members Shazia Alam and Foazei Pervaz recently marked the second successful year of their Bradford-based service, known as the South Asian Women’s Health Awareness Association or SAWHAA, which works specifically with South Asian women who are experiencing depression, anxiety or stress.The idea of forming SAWHAA began back in 2001, when 27-year-old Shazia and 26-year-old Foazei, who were then working for the Primary Care Trust in Bradford, realised there was little on offer for South Asian women in the city who were suffering from mental health problems.
Foazei says: "We soon realised that a lot of South Asian women were simply unaware of the various forms of mental illness. Also, there were no services we could refer our clients to. At that time there was only one mental health service provider but that only dealt with severe cases."Realising this problem, Shazia and Foazei decided to do a feasibility study and the results confirmed what the pair had suspected about the lack of of mental health service provision. Spurred on by this, they decided to form SAWHAA.
Shazia: "It’s our job to help the girls to increase confidence, self esteem and their quality of life."However, they soon realised they would have to leave their daytime jobs and commit themselves to the task they’d set themselves full time if the project was to survived. The pair say they found the first year very difficult. One problem was that much of the funding came in two-monthly intervals. As a result, they had to cancel quite a few of the sessions they were running. Shazia recalls: “It was a daunting time. We really didn’t know if we were going to make it!”
Despite the setbacks, and buoyed-up by positive feedback from the Bradford Primary Health Care Trust, they persevered. Then in March 2003, Millennium Unlimited offered to fund their running costs. More funding from other agencies also followed.They now have 167 clients on the books and say they’re happy to expand in order to meet an ever-increasing demand for their services. SAWHAA offers a wide range of services including advice and one-to-one support sessions, alternative therapy classes, social events, craft activities and exercise programmes. There are even plans to introduce classes in horticulture, encouraging clients to produce their own fruit and vegetables.
It was a daunting time. We really didn’t know if we were going to make it!
Shazia Alam
SAWHAA’s founders also recently decided to lower the client age limit to 14-years-old in a bid to help address some of the many issues and challenges faced by younger Asian girls. Shazia and Foazei say this decision was made because, apart from bullying and self-harming, many of the girls appear to suffer from a crisis of identity because they don’t feel fully British or Asian. They say it’s as though they have one foot in either culture. Coupled with this, they believe, is an overwhelming feeling of isolation from their parents. Shazia says: “It’s our job to help the girls to increase confidence, self esteem and their quality of life.”
With funding now secure, SAWHAA now have plans to open a drop in centre so women can directly access their services. They also hope to take on more workers to cope with increased demand. In the future, Shazia and Foazei say they hope the services offered by SAWHAA will be adopted on a national scale as the challenges faced by Bradford’s South Asian community are most likely being experienced by other British Asians around the country.
!!! It’s a bad bad bad idea!! 