NEW staff have been recruited by Blackburn with Darwen Council to improve services for people who need support for mental health problems.

The improvements are being made so the council can better place itself to meet the demands of the recently published "National Service Framework" documents which sets nationwide standards for the promotion of high quality services to people with mental health problems, their families and carers.

The documents encourage social services departments and their major partners in health, the independent sector and other service areas to join forces to promote good mental health and improve access to services for all those in need of support in any way.

One of Blackburn with Darwen Council's social services department's key aims is to improve liaison with ethnic minority communities.

Social Services committee chairman Coun Sue Reid said: "This initiative is part of the Labour government's drive to promote a modern and dependable health service, and echoes the council's recent work in improving local services.

"Developments such as a supported housing scheme, a first language counselling service for people with mental health problems in the ethnic minority community and the development of an out of hours services for people with mental health problems all mean improved services for a very vulnerable part of our community. "As a council we intend to continue to improve our services by working in partnership with the people who use our services, their friends and family and other partner agencies.

"In the coming months we will be appointing additional staff to work on a range of areas.

New staff will include:

A community support worker to carry on the development of the council's out of hours and outreach services.

A day service development officer to improve accessibility and take up by people from ethnic minority communities.

An advocacy co-ordinator to recruit and train volunteers to ensure that people from ethnic minorities have a voice in the service they receive.

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