Guide to minority-ethnic mental health launched by C of E
A GUIDE to how the Church can support the mental health of minority ethnic people has been launched by the Church of England’s Mission and Public Affairs Council. It highlights research that suggests that some mental-health conditions are more prevalent among ethnic minorities, that minority ethnic people are less likely to seek help at an early stage of illness, and that they have poorer experiences once in the mental-health system. Among the suggestions are that the Church should “take a lead in exploring the continuing legacy of slavery with regard to UK minority ethnic mental health”. The toolkit includes a questionnaire to be used in either a prison or hospital setting to assess the spiritual and religious beliefs of individuals.
www.churchofengland.org/faith-action/mental-health-resources/uk-minority-ethnic-mental-health-toolkit
Dr Sentamu calls for higher care-worker wages
MORE money needs to be spent on care for older people, the Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, said on Saturday. He was delivering the Paul Noone Memorial Lecture at the annual Doctors for the NHS conference. As well as mental health and “collective responsibility”, he focused on an ageing population, arguing that “the population of the UK are ready to buy into a system that provides a high level of care for all. Large amounts of money are injected for early years and primary, secondary, and tertiary education, but so far that money has not been matched for care for older people.” Wage levels in the care sector must be “radically” rethought, he said, and attention paid to those caring for family and friends. They offered 15 billion of volunteering hours.
Prison conditions ‘beggar belief’, says Archbishop of Wales
CUTBACKS have undermined the legal system, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd John Davies, told lawyers at a service to mark the opening of the legal year, at Llandaff Cathedral on Tuesday. A former solicitor, he spoke of a “frequently contradictory context” of increasing demands, “alongside diminishing resources, ever tighter budgets, shrinking entitlement to legal aid, and crumbling infrastructure”. In some prisons, there were conditions that “beggar belief”, while magistrates courts had “vanished” in some areas.
Oxford rector pleads guilty to drink driving
THE Rector of Newport Pagnell with Lathbury and Moulsoe, the Revd Nicholas Evans, pleaded guilty at High Wycombe Magistrates’ Court to a charge of drink driving, last week. He was ordered to pay a fine of £1605 and costs, and is disqualified from driving for 16 months. He will now face a separate investigation under the Church disciplinary framework. A spokesperson for the diocese of Oxford said that his conviction would be “taken very seriously by the diocese. Clergy are called to an exemplary standard of moral behaviour. There can be no separation between the public and personal life of ministers.” Mr Evans apologised to his congregation on Sunday, reports say.
Tap to give money to help the homeless
CONTACTLESS donation points that enable people to give money to support a night shelter in Leicester are being set up across the city. A collaboration between Leicester City Council and the Business Improvement District Leicester, the project related to the Leicester Homelessness Charter, which was launched last year and is chaired by Canon Alison Adams, Sub-dean of Leicester Cathedral. Donations collected over the first six months of the scheme will go towards the One Roof Night Shelter.