Mental health: ethnic minority carers’ experiences

Nita: About a lack of understanding -

right

- I mean, even I didn't have a -,  I didn't have an understanding of mental health. And because of the different views in our communities about people who exhibit that kind of behaviour, you know, I mean they have this thought that if somebody goes a bit -, if they have mental health problems, that somebody else has done it to them. They've put a, you know, like a curse on them or something like that.

Nick: Would you allow his broken leg to be treated by a nurse who was not trained at all? They weren't. But how is it that you allow a person who is mentally ill? You don't know what the hell's going on inside their brain, and you say send that person to a house and say tell the mother or father to look up to them without any training whatsoever. Where is the logic in it?

Emily: Because one time I even had to went to get counselling for this situation. Because when you are on benefit and, you know, you came in this country and you don't understand the system, it's very stressful because with my husband illness you don't even understand also about paperwork is like he’s lost. Then -, and I was sorting out these papers for him and so I kept in sending on more information is like I'm not getting anywhere. And it was so stressful for me.

Anton: I go to a Sri Lankan church. Well if I don't go there one week the minister or somebody ‘hey I haven't seen you, what happened?’ You know, which is nice to feel wanted. You know, then if I say, ‘ah, I got this ruddy depression’, they say ‘something we can do for you’, you know, ‘come along and spend the day with me.’ Yeah.