# Barriers and facilitators to implementation of a community wellbeing service for black, Asian and minoritised young people: mixed method evaluation  

## TL;DR

A new mental wellbeing service for young people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds was evaluated to understand what helped or hindered its success in a community setting.

## Contribution

The study identifies key facilitators and barriers to implementing mental health services for minoritised young people in community settings.

## Key findings

- Facilitators included a supportive environment, practitioners' lived experience, and trust-building.
- Barriers included slow implementation, informal activities, and inconsistent youth attendance.
- 94 young people attended at least one session over 12 months.

## Abstract

Young people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds experience greater mental health needs and face greater challenges when accessing mental health support. We evaluated implementation of a new mental wellbeing service for minoritised young people in an urban youth centre.

We evaluated the service during its first 12 months of implementation. We held twelve interviews with service practitioners and three paired interviews with six young people. Fieldnotes were taken and used to contextualise interview data. Practitioners recorded young people’s attendance. Qualitative data were analysed thematically. Attendance data were analysed descriptively.

The service included Four components: a weekly two-hour session with mental health practitioners in the youth centre, opportunistic wellbeing conversations and activities, mentoring, and referrals to therapeutic support. It was developed iteratively to allow time for relationships between practitioners and with young people to develop and for intervention to be tailored to the setting.

Implementation was facilitated by the setting’s positive influence, practitioners’ lived experience, iterative development of the service, and establishing trusting relationships. Barriers included the informal nature of activities, slow service implementation, and young people’s inconsistent attendance and reluctance to engage with the service. 94 young people attended at least one session.

Successful implementation of wellbeing services in community settings for minoritised young people require relationship building and flexibility in delivery and pace. Future development and evaluation of similar services should consider these requirements.

Young people from ethnic minority backgrounds have greater need for mental health support. Yet they often face difficulties in finding this support. We evaluated a new mental health support service for these young people in a youth centre.

Over 12 months, we interviewed service practitioners and young people, took fieldnotes, and recorded young people's attendance. We analysed all this information to identify what helped implementing such a service and what didn't.

The new service had four components: weekly sessions with mental health practitioners, wellbeing conversations and activities, mentoring, and referrals to other services. It evolved over time as relationships were built and was tailored to the environment in the youth centre.

What helped the implementation of the service was the supportive environment, providers' lived experience, service flexibility, and establishment of trust. Whereas slow service delivery, unstructured activities, irregular attendance of young people, and their reluctance to engage hindered the implementation.

Relationship building and flexibility of a service are required for successful implementation of mental health support services for young people from minoritized ethnicities. Future service development should consider these factors.