Synergi Stories: Covid-19 eJournal survey

Welcome to the Synergi Stories: Covid-19 eJournal survey, which aims to capture and document the narratives of ethnic minority people with lived experience of severe mental distress and their carers during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Why are we launching this survey?

Covid-19 is generating great uncertainty and social and economic conditions that are adversely impacting people’s mental and physical health, access to equitable treatment and access to relevant information. This has been amplified by the new Coronavirus Act 2020 and emergency changes being made to the Mental Health Act.

We are concerned that existing standards in mental health services, which are already demonstrably insufficient, will be reduced. We are also concerned that essential knowledge is not reaching ethnic minority people with lived experience of severe mental distress and their carers, including migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, along with insufficient opportunities for their stories to be visible, heard and shared as part of a supportive community for change.

How do we plan to use the information that you provide?

Synergi will use the information you provide to create an online journal as a platform:

  • To capture and document ethnic minority people with lived experience of severe mental distress and their carers’ experiences and narratives
  • To build a community of knowledge and support
  • To allow you to feel connected to your peers who are also facing similar challenges at a difficult time of self-isolation
  • To create tailored resources that will assist you as ethnic minority people with lived experience, service users and carers
  • To collaborate with stakeholders to consider how they can improve their services, engage and connect with you during the Covid-19 lockdown.

The information and stories you share through this survey will help shape our understanding of the challenges you face, and how you are coping, and will inform and influence the first phase of the Synergi Stories: Covid-19 eJournal, a new online platform for ethnic minority people with lived experience, service users and carers to creatively share their stories and inform our work and, ultimately, policy.

Why we want to hear your stories

At the end of the survey, there are two sections (Coping with the Covid-19 lockdown and Your recommendations). Here we ask you to share your stories, in a variety of ways, from inspiring quotes to poetry to short stories to images, and to give recommendations of what materials or activities are helping you to cope at this challenging time. You can choose to have your story published anonymously on the online journal when it is created, or you can request for it not to be published but to be used for information only. Nothing from these two sections will be published without your permission.

We appreciate you taking the time to consider this request and to complete the survey. Your personal details will not be shared and you must be 18 and above to participate. You can see our privacy policy here.

Synergi Collaborative Centre

A large text version of this survey is available here

You can find out more about Synergi here.

  • Tell us about yourself

  • Your name and personal details will not be made public. You can just provide us with your first name
  • If you are confused about any of the terms used, please refer to Stonewall's Glossary of Terms.
  • You can tick more than one box
  • You can tick more than one box
  • Your lived experience of the Covid-19 lockdown

  • 1. What impact is the Covid-19 lockdown having on your mental health?

    Examples:
    - Do you feel more distressed?
    - Do you miss having access to a health and social care professional, family member or friend?
    - Are you feeling unclear about the Covid-19 lockdown requirements?
    - Do you feel lonelier and more isolated?
  • 4. If you have answered yes to question 3., please share your experience in the box below.

    Examples:
    - Having to travel to be tested
    - Undergoing the test itself
    - Coping with the impact of a diagnosis for yourself or someone else you are close to
    - Having to shield yourself because you fall into a vulnerable health category
    - Having to self-isolate because you may have Covid-19
    - Having to deal with the impact of a diagnosis
  • 7. What is your experience of social distancing and self-isolation?

    Examples:
    - Being in total self-isolation and not leaving home
    - Leaving home to get exercise and/or to go shopping a few times a week
    - Having to work and/or study from home
    - Not having to undergo any significant lifestyle changes
  • Your support needs

  • You can click more than one option
  • Example: This can include support you are receiving online or via phone, such as counselling, peer support or someone you talk to regularly. Please put your answer in the box below.
  • Please put your answer in the box below
  • Coping with the Covid-19 lockdown

  • 1. What would help you to cope better with the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown on your life and self-care?

    Examples:
    - Financial advice and support
    - Being able to go to my church, Mosque, Gurdwara, etc
    - Being able to connect with friends and family
    - Being able to join discussion groups
    - Having information about Covid-19, welfare benefits and services in my language
    - Having access to a mobile phone and/or computer
    - Having broadband services
    - Having social media skills
  • Tick as many boxes as you like.
  • 4. What online services, people and/or resources would make a difference to your wellbeing and recovery at this time?

    Examples:
    - Religious/faith services
    - Translation services
    - Audio books
    - Access to health and social care professionals
    - Access to other carers
    - A peer support mentor
  • Drop files here or

    We recommend that you don't upload any personal photographs featuring family and friends as we would require their permission to use the images.

    Below are links to free image and photography sites where you can select an image that inspires you to illustrate your story, if you don’t have a suitable one yourself. You can also take a photograph on your mobile phone - if you have one - and upload it.

    Pexels
    Unsplash
    Pixabay

  • Your recommendations

  • 1. If you would like to suggest resources or activities that you feel would benefit ethnic minority service users, carers and people with lived experience during the Covid-19 lockdown, feel free to list a maximum of five examples below.

    Examples
    Books
    Music
    Poems
    Radio programmes
    Podcasts
    Websites
    Mobile apps

  • Permissions

  • Your contact details

  • Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey.

    If possible, please provide us with your email address, or the email address of the person who assisted you to complete this survey, who can be contacted on your behalf. Your email details will not be published. We are only requesting it to enable us to contact you for more information and/or to let you know when the Covid-19 eJournal platform has been launched. If you don’t have an email address, please click the ‘no email’ box below and we will follow your permission instructions.

Disclaimer

We reserve the right to sensitively edit, or not publish information that is potentially libellous* and/or reveals the identity of people or organisations mentioned without their consent.

*Libellous refers to statements that may be interpreted as false or unfair that are likely to negatively affect the reputation of a person or organisation.