Everyone deserves to feel welcome, heard, and able to access the support they need. Yet for many people, barriers can make it harder to find help, have their voice heard, or get the right support at the right time.
We work alongside diverse and underserved communities across Somerset to understand people’s experiences and ensure their voices help influence the services that affect them. Through community engagement, lived experience and meaningful conversations, we listen to what matters most to people and use those insights to help shape more accessible, inclusive, and responsive services.
The Somerset Mental Health Alliance funds this work through Open Mental Health. By working closely with diverse and underserved communities, we want to ensure mental health services are welcoming, accessible, and shaped by lived experience. We support communities to share their experiences, identify challenges, and contribute to positive change across Somerset.
supporting the somerset mental health alliance
As part of Open Mental Health, we work with communities who may face additional barriers to accessing mental health support. By building trust, listening to people’s experiences and strengthening connections with services, we help ensure support is better equipped to meet the needs of Somerset’s diverse communities.
Our work includes:
- Building trusted relationships with diverse and underserved communities
- Listening to and amplifying lived experience
- Identifying barriers to accessing mental health services and support
- Supporting organisations to embed equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB)
- Delivering training, consultancy and practical guidance
- Strengthening connections between communities and service providers
- Using evidence, lived experience and insight to inform positive change
- Promoting co-production and trauma-informed approaches
We’re running three lived experience surveys to understand the barriers and challenges people might face when accessing mental health support across Somerset. By sharing your experiences, you’ll help us understand what’s working, identify barriers, and shape support that is more inclusive, accessible and responsive.
You may identify with more than one of these communities. If so, please complete the survey that feels most relevant to your experiences, or complete more than one survey if you wish
Ethnically Diverse Communities
Share your experiences of accessing mental health support.
Men Aged 25-55
Tell us about your experiences and what could improve support.
LGBTQIA+ Communities
Help us understand what makes mental health support more inclusive and accessible
organisational support and Inclusion
Alongside our community-focused work, we support the Open Mental Health Network to strengthen equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB).
Through training, consultancy, engagement and practical guidance, we help organisations build inclusive cultures, improve community engagement and create environments where people feel valued, understood and able to thrive.
This work is funded through Open Mental Health, part of the Somerset Mental Health Alliance. By bringing community perspectives into the partnership, we help ensure mental health services are informed by the needs and experiences of Somerset’s diverse communities.