Bridging Gaps
Year: 2021
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: In this chapter, we share our experiences about a project that aims to improve access to primary care services within GP (general practitioner) practices for women who have experienced trauma and have complex needs – the Bridging Gaps project. This chapter is written by some of the women in the group in their own words. It is a combination of our different experiences and thoughts about the project. As some of the Bridging Gaps group would rather not share names, this has been written anonymously. Bridging Gaps was started by a group of Bristol women with personal experience of trauma, including addiction, homelessness, mental health problems, sexual exploitation, domestic and sexual violence, and poverty. Women who have faced extensive trauma often have low engagement with mainstream health services. They can experience extreme health and social inequalities, and have complex needs that are not always understood, or met, within primary care services. Bridging Gaps offers health professionals who work with women with complex needs a greater understanding and awareness of complex needs and trauma via a one-hour training programme led by a group of women with lived experience of these issues. The women involved in our group range in age, ethnicity, and expertise including doctors, health professionals, support workers, researchers, and most importantly, women with lived experiences who are experts in their own traumas. These experiences include genuine, honest, and extremely raw hardship that they deal with, or used to deal with, on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. Collectively, we aim to work collaboratively with health services so that they can identify, engage and work in a meaningful way with women who face many barriers to seeking and engaging with treatment.
Source: Policy Press eBooks
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, Maudsley Charity, Strong, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Department of Health and Social Care, Imperial College London, University College London, University of Oxford, University of Bristol, Vetenskapsrådet, Forskningsrådet om Hälsa, Arbetsliv och Välfärd, NIHR School for Primary Care Research, National Institute for Health Research Applied Research Collaboration West, THIS Institute, University of Cambridge
OpenAlex ID: W4386049360