Meaning “support” or “foundation” in Hindi, the Adhar Project works to do just this. It primarily supports members of the Asian, African and Caribbean community who are affected by mental health issues. They specifically help adults with mental health difficulties, young carers of those with mental health issues, carers for people with learning disabilities and families and carers of people with complex mental health difficulties.
Through a range of services, sessions and activities, the Adhar Project aims to support for adults with mental health difficulties and their carers. They hope to assist the families and carers of service users to increase the service user’s quality of life by providing a network in which ideas can be shared and where educational, social and leisure activities as well as advocacy and family interventions are readily available in all main Asian languages and in group settings at various community venues.
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The groups provide service users and their carers with an important network system. They offer the opportunity to experience the feeling of security inside a caring environment, a place in which members can socialise in an appropriate cultural setting and share their experiences and information. Activities are educational, therapeutic, cultural and social and are mostly conducted in main Asian languages.
Programmes are planned in consultation with group members and activities include educational sessions on welfare benefits, health issues and community awareness; arts and crafts; outings and day trips to museums, market towns for shopping, and entertainment at bowling alleys, theatres and cinemas; indoor sports such as table tennis, snooker and badminton; and talks from guest speakers on various subjects such as health issues and safety issues.
Over the years, the Carlton Hayes Mental Health Charity has awarded grants to Adhar to fund various service areas. During 2015, Carlton Hayes is funding Adhar to run early intervention and preventative mental health services for the Asian, African and Caribbean communities in the Leicester area. Direct payments from the Adhar Project are also enabling health services to be delivered to people with higher needs.
A strong working relationship has been built between Carlton Hayes and the Adhar Project over the years. Recently, Adhar’s important Family Intervention service faced closure due to lack of funding. In light of this, Carlton Hayes awarded a grant to sustain the service for another 3-6 months, allowing Adhar to enable families to stay together through difficult times and helping them with issues such as budgeting and debts whilst promoting independence and social inclusion.