African and Caribbean Mental Health Services (ACMHS) was established in October 1989 as a result of concern expressed in the African and Caribbean community about the frequency with which second generation African and Caribbean youths were admitted to psychiatric hospitals and the Regional Forensic Unit. Concern focused on the way in which such admissions took place, what happened when people were admitted in terms of diagnosis, medication and treatment as well as their aftercare within the community.

In 1989, a local psychiatrist, Dr. P. Thomas and others, carried out an independent research into the experiences of African and Caribbean people involved in mental health services in Central Manchester. This research found that second generation African and Caribbean people had a significantly elevated first admission rate compared with white people in the same age band. Approximately 45% of the second generation African and Caribbean group had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, compared with 5% for white age-matched patients. Also disturbing trends were identified in the numbers of second generation African and Caribbean people being admitted to hospital compulsory under a section of the Mental Health Act compared to those numbers of age-matched white people.

Although most of our work is conducted in Central Manchester where there is the greatest concentration of peoples of African and Caribbean descent, we operate in Oldham and Trafford, as well as outside Greater Manchester for example Ashworth Hospital on Merseyside.

With a compliment of 16 staff and an active volunteer programme, we provide advocacy, support, casework, befriending, counselling and talking therapy to our service users. We also provide education and training to statutory and voluntary organization seeking to enhance their practice by providing ethnically, culturally and socially sensitive care of Black people. Also we provide placements and training for Social Work Students from Stockport College, Salford and Manchester Universities as well as training of student nurses and medical students.

Research has shown that attitudes and perceptions of health care professionals about the causes, consequences and appropriateness of responses to mental health problems, differ in significant ways depending on the ethnicity of the patients. The tendency of Health care professionals to misinterpret differences in cultural and racial expression and experiences of mental health and illness has serious implications for Black people. The understanding of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds has a positive impact on diagnosis, treatment and the potential for recovery and rehabilitation.