A service that was set up swiftly at the start of the Pandemic, to provide support for those of South Asian Heritage whose mental health was affected in any way by Covid-19.  A partnership approach was taken with Manchester Bangladeshi Women’s Organisation, Pakistani Resource Centre, Manchester BME Network & 3 professional counsellors, providing online group sessions, a befriending & referral hotline, 1-to-1 counselling and capacity support for Community groups.

A two-day workshop, known as a ‘sandpit’ event, was held by the GMBME Network, a public involvement team, artists and several researchers to meet the need for public involvement in health research. Our own Rafiki Network members were authors of one of the research papers, which was recognised by the NIHR (National Institute of Health Research) as having followed very good practice, and was highlighted to other researchers, policy-makers and funders as a paper that deserved to be noticed.