Climate Change

Everybody seems to realise that climate change is something that needs to be taken seriously and the town of Reading joined the rest of the world to participate in the campaign against Climate Change. More than 100 countries have pledged to plant trees and cut back on deforestation, curb methane emissions and put a stop to investment in coal power. COP26 - the climate summit held in Glasgow in October/November 2021; aims to keep warming below 1.5oC. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded that there is more than 95 percent probability that ballooning human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet.

BAME Mental Health

Covid has caused many issues not just in the UK but globally, shutting down things like small businesses all the way up to countries to try to prevent the spread of the virus. Going through many lockdowns and tighter restrictions, many other effects have come into play for people such as less access to support networks, less time with friends, and it’s harder to see a doctor for medical assistance. All these things negatively affect a person’s mental health. The general consensus with the pandemic is that overall, everyone has struggled more with their mental health.

BAME men have shown a drastic increase in mental health issues compared to their white counterparts, with GHQ-12 scores being on average two points higher than pre covid times while white men GHQ-12 scores only go up an average of less than one point, a very noticeable difference.

Both BAME and white women have shown a similar increase in mental health issues during the pandemic. Both groups’ scores jumped up by nearly two points. Both BAME and white women seem to be at similar risks of developing mental health issues, with BAME women just that little bit more at risk than white women. There does not seem to be much research available on the effects Covid-19 has on young people but the little I could find states that of all age groups, young people were the most affected by mental illnesses and other mental health issues during the lockdowns.

To help people deal with mental health issues during and after the lockdown, GAIN (Global African Integration Network) worked with other organisations to provide a training course and an awareness course. The awareness course offered was a half day course to bring awareness to mental health issues, fight the stigma of mental health and provide resources for people to use if they need help.

The training course is a two day, more in depth option, that covers how to help people with the most common mental health issues as well and where to recommend them for help if needed. The trainings helped in fighting the stigma around mental health and helping open conversations otherwise ignored or buried by communities. Both courses were held online and promoted health conversations and offered a lot of support to those attending.