The Somali Mental Health and Advocacy project (SOMHAP) was established in March 2006 and was legally incorporated as a non profit making organisation. SOMHAP was set up to address the challenges of mental health and wellbeing faced by the Somali community in the UK.

SOMHAP is open to everyone who can access its service.

It is run by a management committee of 5 people who themselves are or have been users of SOMHAP services. The Management Committee provides strategic direction to the organisation. In this capacity, SOMHAP is responsible for a significant portion of what contributes to the quality of life of these communities in the UK and Africa and the integration to the wider community.

Its core objectives are :
a) To improve the mental health of the Somali community in the United Kingdom, focusing on London; through early intervention and liaison with the Health Authority and other relevant agencies; and

b) To carry out preventative work, especially with individuals living in isolation, while exploring the provision which is culturally appropriate.

With this as the backdrop to everything we do, SOMHAP has developed a range of services to meet its identified objectives; these services are structured around 4 core themes.

The core themes are:

1. Training and Educational Workshops - organises a number of training and workshops for young people and thier families focusing on health promotion, has worked in the past with the Lewisham Community Drug Education to deliver workshops on drug education

2. Tailored advice -provides general advice to clients those at risk of substance misuse ,domestic violence, poor physical and mental health issues

3. Outreach -runs a number of outreach activties aimed at reaching the hard to reach, whom the Centre is inaccessible, or who are unaware of its existence or reluctant to use it.

4.Counselling - our counselling provides a regular time for those in distress to explore their feelings and talk about their problems

5. Referral and signposting to specialist service providers, other voluntary organisations & other statutory services

ACHIEVEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS

In the last financial year SOMHAP has been ones and rapid change and development in its services. In this short time scale we have managed to deliver a number of training programmes and workshops targeting over 500 people, we have managed to secure two grants and taken on board new projects.

We are pleased to have achieved diversity in our work. Moreover we have delivered what we said we would do, although we recognise that there is much to be done. We have managed to run a number of training and workshops focusing on health, we are organising a seminar next year in February 2010, targeting professional who work with our target group, details will be on the website by the end of December.

We have also managed to employ a part time advocacy and outreach worker, there have been an increased number of new clients accessing our services. We are reaching out to over 2000 people in the borough of Lewisham and Southwark. We currently in discussions at looking at extending our operational times to at least five days a week as the service is now in demand.