Mental health: ethnic minority carers’ experiences
Support from family, friends and community
Family, friends and the community can give lots of support to carers. Practical help with shopping, transport, or looking after the person who is unwell for a couple of hours can make life easier. Having someone who listens or a shoulder to cry on is important emotional support. Meeting up for coffee, going for a walk together or just 'having a laugh' is also great social support which give carers a break. Some also get financial support from those around to help make ends meet.
The carers we spoke to had different needs and expectations of support from those around them. Some people received more support than others. For one or two people, a lack of support meant they felt at 'breaking point.' These people wondered if they could go on caring. Others believed they did get the support they needed, or could get more support from health and social services (see 'Support from carers' services').
Support from family
Close family was the most important source of practical and emotional support for most carers we talked to, with some also getting financial help. Grown up children, for example, often lent a hand or an ear.
Sarah's daughters gives practical help, and their strong relationships are a source of strength...
Sarah's daughters gives practical help, and their strong relationships are a source of strength...
So I mean, -so they live in London, I don't see them every day but they phone very regularly and they've got a happy lives, she gets on with things, she is happy, and it gives me a boost really. And for instance when I went to that conference I asked her if they would not mind coming here to stay for the weekend with their brother, and they said yes, and they went to see friends, school friends and so on, but they was there and, so they had, you know, meals together and so on, so that's given me, at least I don't have to, -I mean I've got to be careful because they're young, they're fragile as well, but at least I know they are OK, so that gives me a boost, and we talk and so on. And in fact I used to talk a lot about Max to them, and once they told me, “You're always talking about him, and I would like to talk a bit about us”. So I said, “Yes.”
Social contact and companionship was the type of support most carers appreciated. For instance, one woman said that life became more enjoyable when their son, who lives with them, had a baby daughter who brightened up everyday life.
Many reported, however, that they didn't get much - or at least not enough - support from close relatives. Very often most of the practical tasks fell on one person who ended up 'picking up all the pieces.' This person landed the job of carer for a range of reasons, including:
- Not being married
- Being oldest female
- Living in the same household
- Being the most capable
- Simply because they were not walking away from the situation.
Anton's siblings leave most of the care to him.
Anton's siblings leave most of the care to him.
Many carers felt that some family members could 'make more of an effort' to visit, call or help out with practical things like preparing food or being involved with medical care. Anton, who suffers from depression, has felt this most acutely in the periods he was unwell himself.
Support from friends
People had similar experiences with support from friends. Some got great support while others felt people pulled away or did less than they had hoped, adding to their sense of isolation (see 'Children, family and social life').
People thought many friends didn't really understand how it is to care for someone with a mental health problem. Rather than judge or give unhelpful advice, the people we spoke to liked friends just to 'be there' so you could 'be yourself' and 'let off steam'. Some said it is difficult, or even impossible, to understand properly what it is like to be a carer if you haven't experienced mental health caring yourself.
Anne's friends don't really understand, and she chooses who she talks to, but communicates with God.
Anne's friends don't really understand, and she chooses who she talks to, but communicates with God.
So you feel lonely?
Yeah. Yeah lonely is another word, like the grief and loneliness, yeah. Yeah and, but. And all I can do in my loneliness is give it to God. That's all, I have faith and that's it. And it's, so it's the times when it's really bad, is the times when you're even more lonely. The times when you need somebody even more is the time you don't get somebody.
For those who had close family and friends abroad, help and support can be sporadic. Some people did get support via phone calls or occasional visits.
She was the sole carer but her aunt called from the USA to support her father (played by an actor).
She was the sole carer but her aunt called from the USA to support her father (played by an actor).
Gosh, that's a long time.
Yeah. So she'd known, she was 20 and my dad was 19, I think, when they last saw each other.
Making friends and getting support from other carers was seen as very helpful because they can understand the situation 'without too much explaining'.
Other carers understand her son's condition in a way her non-carer friends don't (played by an...
Other carers understand her son's condition in a way her non-carer friends don't (played by an...
Support from the community
Some people said that in the UK 'you don't know your neighbours' and that it is more 'each man on his own' compared with many other cultures. Many of the carers we spoke to didn't really seek help from neighbours, not wanting to 'bother them too much'.
Others did get regular support from neighbours. One man said his neighbour would 'pop by' to see his mother during the day if he had to go to meetings. Some found neighbours to be good company for themselves or for the person they cared for.
Their neighbour is great company for his wife and has been there for them when crisis hit ...
Their neighbour is great company for his wife and has been there for them when crisis hit ...
No. My wife's friend is Chinese she lives next door to us. She is elderly. We got a lot of support from her.
In what way?
She used to come our home everyday, and sit and talk with us. My Mrs is a people's person and she like people a lot. If anyone comes to our home she is happy. She forgets to argue and forgets her illness and she gets entertained by people. She loves to feed and give refreshments to people. She [the neighbour] used to come home everyday and sit with her. My Mrs has a habit of drinking a lot of tea, in a day she will drink at least 20-30 cups of tea. When the Chinese woman came she got my Mrs to stop drinking tea. She got her to drink hot water. Once before, when before I stopped working, the Chinese woman came when my Mrs had fallen. She got her spare key and she got the neighbours together and opened the door and she pressed the panic button.
When you got her support, how did you feel?
In my heart I felt there is someone nearby and felt if something happened there is nothing to worry about or if I wanted to go out then I will get support. If I tell her that I am going out, she will phone or will come into the home, sit with her or take her out for a walk for a bit.
So did you get some relief from that?
Yes, some relief, that someone is nearby, that not alone.
Some carers had not told family, friends or the community about the mental health problem in the family because they feared - or had experienced - that people 'turn their backs' and didn't understand (see 'Negative attitudes to mental health problems').
People fear violence and stay away when they hear Gou's sons have mental health problems.
People fear violence and stay away when they hear Gou's sons have mental health problems.
Community? If anybody heard that you have a sick son, they don't want to know you. That's the worst part. People still have the idea that, that -I still hear people saying to me, saying to somebody, “You know, he has two sons, they are sick”. And when people hear that, they don't want their children to even come any nearer. Because they are afraid, you know, that your son might do something, or something. But then again, I don't blame them either, because, because they do not have enough knowledge that not all sick people are violent, not all sick people are, are bad. They have a life. To me, it's amazing' People tell me, in Northern Ireland, one in four is mentally depressed, or something like that. You walk in the shopping centre, you see four of them, you say, which one? Therefore it's, -because my two son has a lot of relatives here, must have 40, or 50 relatives here. Not one of them come near. Not one.
Others felt supported by their workplace, community or by people from their place of worship. Help with interpretation or filling in of forms was mentioned as well as feeling a sense of belonging when taking part in community events. One woman said her husband was 'more normal' when he was with others from the community. Several people said it helped to get support from within their own ethnic community because they might 'understand better'.
Anton feels supported in the Sri Lankan church.
Anton feels supported in the Sri Lankan church.
Given some negative attitudes (see 'Negative attitudes to mental health problems') many said it could be difficult to get support from their community because of gossip and prejudice. Some thought churches, temples or mosques were unsupportive or not open minded enough about mental health issues (see 'Support from spirituality and religion').
One woman who had lived in the UK for seven years said that 'as a foreigner, there is no community' to get support from. Her brothers in East Africa ring her regularly and want her son to return there so that he can get support from a more close knit community.
She feels she wears out her few friends here, whereas communities back home have more time.
She feels she wears out her few friends here, whereas communities back home have more time.
There's not a community. I mean if you are a foreigner and you haven't got family around, the only people that maybe your family, maybe a close friend or, and as I said, friends give up at some point, when the situation goes on for long, you know, because if he's going for two years and three years, -initially people were there as maybe friends, but then within a year, within two years, within three years, four years, you don't want to talk to those friends again about it, because they don't want to hear and that makes it so much alone that the only person that I feel wouldn't be fed up listening is my mum. But I don't talk to my friends about him and they don't ask me about him, because maybe, as I said, it's gone on for that long that' People just forget about it, or something like that. So it is hard, I find, -you find yourself in this strange environment with that sort of situation, you know, because I would think that if, -My brothers do phone a lot, when they hear things are going on like that and I know if at times they are wanting to come over for a while and I know if he was there, maybe there would be so many people would have picked up the pieces and sort of supported maybe emotionally and psychologically, but it's not like that here and it is difficult.
While people had many comments about how community support differs in different cultures (see 'What different cultures can teach us'), some felt all communities need to 'get together' to give more support to carers and patients.
She thinks most support comes from the home, but more openness can help communities provide...
She thinks most support comes from the home, but more openness can help communities provide...
And what about support from the community?
Well, if the people who understand those problems then they can talk to the community people and say that in -openly, in community members and then say that, 'Look, when this is the type of issues coming in our society, now we can take some action or we can take them, -if you can't look after them, take them to the old people's home or children's home or fostering them, and if you can afford to them to send in a hostel you can do that way'. Otherwise I don't think so, -you can live your life like that because come what may happen, something happens to you who can come and help you? So the community should get together and think about the progress or 'unprogress' or any issue of the health problem -they should take into their hand and give them support.
Last reviewed September 2018.
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