Culturally sensitive mental health care: a module for 21st century education and practice

As the United Kingdom becomes increasingly culturally diverse, we are tasked with becoming more attuned to complex cultures, health beliefs and practices. The routes toward this demographic trend and related issues of population movement are complex and have a significant impact on those engaged in meeting the needs of clients with mental health problems and their families. This paper is the result of a small study undertaken to explore the current extend of cultural awareness of a group of mental health practitioners working with clients across a range of health care settings. It also sought to establish, through a review of programme promotional materials, gaps in the educational provision for these practitioners at the point of initial registration. In so doing this paper presents a proposal for culturally orientated mental healthcare education, as a means of contributing to the delivery of high quality, needs led service provision.