Crossing boundaries: exploring effective approaches to co-design mental health support with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities

Research team

• Dr Laura Tucker, Research Associate, University of York
• Professor Martin Webber, Professor of Social Work, University of York
• Dr Kyle Schwartz, Research Associate, University of York

Co-Investigators

• Violet Cannon, York Traveller’s Trust

• Dr Mark Crowe, Waythrough

• Catherine Parker, Tees Esk and Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust

• Michaela Tyers

Project Summary

Research aim and background

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities have the poorest mental health in the population. Anxiety and depression are common, and they are at higher risk of suicide. Their culture is also misunderstood by staff in mental health services and they can be treated unfairly because of assumptions made about them. This means they might avoid answering questions, hide that they are from GRT communities or not use mental health services at all. As a result the support they need isn’t thought about when designing mental health services.

We want to understand what mental health support people from GRT communities need. Two community organisations and a university will work with GRT communities in Yorkshire and the Northeast to find ways to make sure their voices are heard about when they need help and what that help should look like. We want to learn:

1. What works best to ask people from GRT communities about what they think,
2. What good mental health support looks like for GRT communities.

Research design and methods

Two community organisations will try out different ways of asking GRT communities about mental health and what they think ‘good’ support looks like. This will include different types of community events and one-to-one conversations.

The university and people from the communities will look at how well these different ways of asking work, so we understand which ones to use in the future. We will also use what we learn about mental health to design different ways of offering mental health support to GRT communities that fits with what they need.

Patient and Public Involvement

During previous work with some of the different communities, they told us that they worry about mental health, but talking about it is difficult. They also find it hard to trust mental health services, especially in the NHS. The community organisations have seen that people don’t ask for help until things get bad and they need help quickly, which isn’t always available.

People from GRT communities will be supported to become ‘peer researchers’ on the team. This means they will be involved in deciding how we should ask people for their views and making decisions as we work through the project. They will also help to assess ‘what worked’ and to design how mental health support should be offered.

Associated research projects/publications

‘Hidden troubles’: Exploring suicide risk and suicide prevention with Gypsy and Traveller communities

Banner image credit: Violet Cannon