Mental health stigma for migrant Muslim communities

In this video, Tabasum Munawar, Mental Health Support Coordinator at Diverse Cymru, explains the ways in which migration, and migration status, can mean that stigma is a particular barrier to accessing mental health support.

Tabsaum explains that language is a significant barrier for Muslims who have recently migrated to Britain. Migrants can also be wary of processes, such as those involved in accessing healthcare through the NHS. Migrant status can itself be a negative label and a source of discrimination, recent migrants may have concerns that if they talk about their mental health problems, an additional negative label will be attached to them.

Tabasum suggests that recently arrived Muslim migrants may have been socialised, in their country of origin, into misconceptions around the relationship between Islam and mental health, for example seeing mental health problems as a punishment for not being ‘a good Muslim’.

Over to you

Share your ideas around overcoming language barriers when providing mental health support for recently migrated people who are not fluent in English? For example, how would you describe a common mental health problem such as depression?