Week 1 reflection and looking forward to Week 2

In Week 1, you have been introduced to some of the important concepts and contextual information required to Understand Islam, Muslims, and Muslim mental health.

Dr Yusuf has explained the relationship between religion and mental health for Muslims and outlined a holistic approach to understanding Muslim mental problems. This is the bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach, or BPSS, as you will hear it referred to throughout the course. This is a thread that will run throughout the course. You have become familiar with core Islamic beliefs and practices, as well as some of the contextual information about Muslims and Muslim communities that is essential to understand their mental health experiences.

Next week we will take a closer look at Muslim experiences and Islamic interpretations of mental health, by examining in detail two barriers to mental health support: stigma and Islamophobia. You will then be introduced to how mental health is understood in Islam, and how Islamic practices and beliefs can impact on mental health. You will consider ways in which knowledge of Islamic practices and beliefs and the Islamic perspectives on mental health might be incorporated into Islamically-informed mental health support using three different approaches which are Islamically-sensitive; Islamically-inclusive; and Islamically-indigenous.

And finally, don’t forget to complete your reflective diary for this week. Reflect on your learning journey so far and any thoughts you have had about your own practice and how this might be different. Here are some suggested prompts for your reflections:

Prompt from Dr Yusuf

Reflect on the idea of ‘human beings are meaning-seekers’ in terms of the role of spirituality in mental health. Consider people, or a person, that you have provided mental health support to.

Prompt from Asma

Think about one person you have provided support to in the past, what were the contextual factors (for example their migration status, socio-economic status, or ethnicity) that impacted on their mental health, and their experiences of mental health support?