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Birmingham and Solihull Mental health NHS Foundation Trust
Better Together
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Engaging with our community

To ensure people with mental health problems receive swift and appropriate treatment and support, it is important that the Trust provides services that are in tune with the needs of our diverse local communities.

We therefore place great importance on making sure that the views of service users and their carers, families and their communities are central to everything we do, so that we better understand the different needs of our diverse communities and provide services that are responsive to their needs.

As well as taking full account of the views of individuals and communities, we actively encourage local communities to get involved in decisions that will affect them.

Community engagement team

This includes the planning, development and management of mental health services across Birmingham and Solihull, as well as activities which aim to improve mental health or reduce health inequalities.

This is achieved by using innovative techniques to engage with a wide audience, in order to challenge the preconception and stigma that people with mental health related issues often face.  We work in partnership with many different organisations in order to deliver pieces of work that will inform, educate and influence our communities about the importance of mental wellbeing and the need to support people with mental health related issues.


Why community engagement is important to the Trust


Effective engagement with the communities we provide mental health services to is important to the Trust, as it helps us to ensure that we are better able to:

  • Provide culturally sensitive services that are better able to meet the needs of diverse local communities

  • Improve access to services for hard to engage with communities

  • Support and sustain recovery of current and former service users

  • Tackle the stigma and discrimination that is still associated with mental health

  • Open up employment opportunities within the Trust to all communities

  • Play our part in ensuring social cohesion across Birmingham and Solihull