Religious and spiritual inclusion

Abstract

‘Religion or belief’ is one of the legal protected characteristics, under The Equality Act 2010. In our experience, however, there is less visible effort to understand the diversity of religious beliefs in our communities and the relationships with mental health, both at a personal level and at a societal level, than there is for other protected characteristics. This article summarises the relevant literature on older people and religious and spiritual identity and outlines the beginnings of a project aimed at supporting religious and spiritual inclusion within an NHS older people’s community mental health team, and forging new bi-directional relationships between our CMHTs and faith communities.