A new support network has been launched in a bid to reach out to Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) women.

Inter Madrassah Organisation (IMO) have set up ‘Women 4 Women’, a project that aims to enhance women’s health, well-being and positive thinking.

Afsana Tutla, Senior Project Officer at IMO said: “From our work and research as an organisation at community level, we have been aware for a long time that many women from our BAME communities have wellbeing issues, from feeling down and isolated, to feeling stressed out and struggling to cope.

“These are all issues which effectively get referred to as ‘mental health’, but that term very often has such a negative connotation.

“It’s often seen as a dirty, taboo word. Because of this, we also know that many local Asian women won’t access support but still need help.

“This peer support initiative aims to dispel those stereotypes and myths and to give some local women the opportunity to meet up, make friends and build their self-confidence so that they can better deal with problems and stresses and strains in their lives that might be getting them down.

“We want people to realise that mental health also incorporates different types of stress including financial stress, stress from looking after one’s extended family and more.

“Our research and community engagement work has found that some Asian woman can often be reluctant to admit that they feel depressed, as that is often aligned with them feeling as if somehow they are failing but just need to ‘get on with it’ as the saying goes.”

IMO’s Women 4 Women project is supported by Mind, the national mental health charity and is one of many local peer support projects running across the country over the next six months.

Women 4 Women in Blackburn will offer free classes to women including art and crafts, cooking, makeup tutorials and many more. The sessions will be held in Bangor Street Health Resource Centre, Audley Neighbourhood Learning Centre and Blackburn Central High School.

Afsana said the peer support group will allow women to talk about their problems to someone in a safe and confidential environment.

“A problem shared is a problem halved. It’s therapeutic. We have kept the sessions very informal.

“This platform means many women may find it easier to talk about their problems and open up to a sympathetic fellow female who they probably didn’t even know before attending the sessions but who will not pass judgement on them.

“We have purposely held the sessions during convenient hours, while the kids are at school or at the mosque.

“Each session lasts an hour-and-a-half and will be held once a week or fortnight.

“Essentially, this is about supporting women to get out of the house, have a change of scenery in a welcoming environment. “It’s about helping women recognise their strengths and to develop a positive, healthy attitude of mind.

“In this way, we want to empower women and tackle important issues like stress, depression, anxiety and loneliness.”