May 2025
As part of our ongoing work with City of Wolverhampton Council on improving support for individuals with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), we spoke with a willing individual who was eager to share her lived experience of SMI.
After diagnosis of SMI in 2021 whilst living in Walsall, she felt her physical health was neglected after significantly gaining weight due to a side effect of antidepressants and antipsychotics – which she feels was not addressed or monitored.
During our conversation, it was noted that she had recently moved out of the Black Country borough to Staffordshire, where she feels she has experienced differences in the quality and comprehensiveness of care.
Upon moving to Stafford, her new GP recognised the risks associated with taking certain medications and was referred for ECGs and medication reviews, something which wasn’t even talked about previously. In addition to this, she received thorough blood tests, leading to the diagnosis of pre-diabetes, liver disease and chronic gastritis.
During the conversation, she emphasised the need for a more active approach in the Black Country with difference aspects of care, with integration between physical and mental health services. In particular, GPs should be in contact closely with mental health professionals, considering all aspects of their health.
The individual was invited to support planning and running of our open invite event on Saturday 7 May 2025 at the Rethink Sanctuary Hub for to share their living experience for those who attend across the Black Country.
The Solace Community provides housing advice and temporary accommodation for vulnerable individuals with underlying health conditions in the Wolverhampton. It is a non-profit organisation dedicated to break the cycle of homelessness.
As part of our work to make connections between homelessness and health, we spoke with an Interagency and Wellbeing Coordinator from The Solace Community to gain a deeper understanding on their significant impact on homeless individuals across the Black Country.
During our conversation, it was noted that engaging tenants is challenging due to mental health issues, often exacerbated by alcohol and drug use. This often results in poor self-management, difficulties in managing finances and lifestyle and neglect of personal care.
Most of the tenants at The Solace Community have experienced trauma which leads to trust issues and predisposition to failure. Therefore, each tenant receives one-to-one individualised support at least four times per week.
Colleagues at The Solace Community have established strong connections with P3 Charity and Good Shephard, allowing them to work collaboratively to improve homelessness across the city.
To also help expand their networks with individuals who can assist them with providing appropriate referral pathways to enhance health, wellbeing and happiness, our Involvement Team have connected their colleagues with the Specialist Commissioner for Mental Health at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
In addition to this, connections have also been made with Rethink Mental Illness in Wolverhampton also.
June 2025
NICS Wellbeing CIC is a community company, committed to supporting people through mental health challenges, neurodivergence, and addiction recovery. Their approach empowers people to live at their best.
Overtime, their community projects have flourished as they offer a variety of initiatives such as parent support groups for neurodivergent children, a lunch and learn wellbeing series, and the ‘Beyond the Book’ programme.
In addition to this, they provide a range of commercial services for organisations, such as:
- Workplace strategy coaching
- Co-coaching
- Providing listening spaces
- Training and workshops
- Reflective practice facilitation for teams in complex and caring roles.
Through our conversations, we met a member of the group who shared her desire to build more relationships with other stakeholders in Wolverhampton. Previously, we introduced the group to our primary care ambassador programme, and they continue to still be apart of this.
Following the community conversation, we introduced members of the group to the Solace Community, Healthwatch, P3 Charity, and the Communities Engagement and VCS Lead at City of Wolverhampton Council, to see how they can work and collaborate with one another to support our residents across Wolverhampton.
We also introduced them to a colleague at Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust who helps run a co-production network.
The African Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI) work with the community to support people from black, African and Caribbean backgrounds to improve their mental health and emotional wellbeing.
The ACCI opened its doors to not just showcase their services, but to share stories, experiences and their vision for improved mental health support in different cultures.
During our visit to ACCI centre, we spoke to a gentleman who is black Caribbean and shared his mental health journey with remarkable honesty and strength.
After spending over 20 years in and out of Penn Hospital, trapped in a cycle or crisis, everything changed when he found ACCI. For the past two years he has been happier, stable and remained out of hospital. He acknowledged the consistent and compassionate support he receives from the team and his support worker. He finds peace in the small things now, such as visiting the ACCI farm, tending to the allotment and going on group walks.
He simply said: “Without ACCI and their compassion, I believe I wouldn’t still be here today.” His story is a reminder of the life-saving impact of culturally responsive, community-led care we have across the Black Country and beyond.
Several members of staff spoke of the challenges black people with ill mental health face in the UK. Statistics show black people have the lowest mental health treatment rates of any ethnic group (6 per cent). ACCI’s educational efforts display a call to action to not just “check yourself” but to reflect deeply on who is being served, who is being failed, and what community-led, culturally informed care can do to close that gap.
Throughout our conversations, we have spoken about interpretation in healthcare, particularly in primary care. They explained the difficulty in finding someone who speaks the right language due to the vast range of African languages and dialects within these, making it very difficult to communicate. ACCI offer British Standards Online (BSOL), but it is difficult to learn when people have poor mental health and other things to focus on.
This was an insightful discussion with members of ACCI and after the conversations we were able to share insights around interpretation with the expert advisory group and a member of our Involvement Team has arranged their next visit to continue growing our relationships.
Bilston Wellbeing Hub has been established for six months – created for the local Jamaican community – encouraging reminiscence and belonging.
A member of our Involvement Team recently visited the Hub to speak to the members and were warmly welcomed into a building which highly represented Jamaican culture.
Amongst our conversations, health, prevention and access to primary care were key topics which gave us an insight into how the Jamaican community perceive the healthcare system.
We spoke with a lady who’s elderly father has diabetes and having seen his GP, he was urged to go to the hospital for a scan. After waiting for hours, he explained the clear lack of communication between GP and hospital staff and was unable to receive a scan until the next day. This led to a conversation around perception and communication styles, with the daughter explaining that there is a fear of complaining or being worried to speak up in frustrating circumstances in many Jamaican families due to being perceived as aggressive.
Reflecting on primary care access, a member of the group spoke about her recent experience when trying to book a GP appointment due to having a persistent chest infection. She was upset and confused when she was given an appointment for two weeks’ time and was told to try and access an earlier appointment online, in which she cannot do. She explained the importance of allowing people to still call to book an appointment. This is still happening in most practices; however, the General Practice Model introduces various different ways of accessing healthcare, with online being one of them. After this conversation, we encouraged the lady to visit her pharmacy by utilising the Pharmacy First initiative to get healthcare advice. She was going to her local pharmacy that afternoon.
A member of the Involvement Team also reached out to the Primary Care Team at NHS Black Country ICB, in which they will investigate accessing appointments at that specific branch within Wolverhampton.
We also shared the details of the gentleman not receiving the care he wishes with the complaints team at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust.
