Client
Oxfordshire Mind
Sector
Third Sector
Location
Oxfordshire
100+ Local Minds supported
2 Projects
20 Languages
58% of vulnerable migrants, refugees and asylum seekers struggle with loneliness*
8x more refugees and asylum seekers suffer from PTSD compared to the general population*
The Client
Oxfordshire Mind is an independent mental health charity with a close affiliation with national Mind.
The organisation has delivered services to communities across the county for over 50 years – from options sessions and crisis support, to advice around benefits, housing and physical wellbeing.
The Client's Challenge
According to Mental Health Foundation’s 2024 report, asylum seekers and refugees in the UK are five times more likely to struggle with mental health needs such as loneliness (58%), depression (31.5%) and PTSD (31.46%). However, many mental health provisions fall short of having support resources and services that are accessible to those with limited English proficiency. In light of these statistics, and after securing funding from national Mind for a package of community outreach projects, Oxfordshire Mind was driven to translate two key resources to make them accessible to minority groups within their community; namely ‘Our Little Book of Services’ and ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing!’ ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing!’ is a leaflet that showcases simple steps for improving mental health, while ‘Our Little Book of Services’ breaks down Oxfordshire Mind’s services for beneficiaries. The challenge centred around translating both documents into 20 languages, some with right-to-left scripts, while respecting layout requirements and cultural sensitivities.
Our Solution
We completed a thorough consultation process with Oxfordshire Mind, including research that demonstrated the dominant community languages across Oxfordshire and the UK. Both documents were then translated into 20 languages, including community languages such as Polish, Punjabi and Urdu. We were able to offer Oxfordshire Mind an end-to-end translation service, from initial consultation, to proofreading and document design formatting, with the added reassurance of accurate and culturally sensitive translations, which cannot be guaranteed with AI. The translated documents have since been shared with all 100+ branches of Mind, supporting communities on a national scale.
“AST makes its services feel human - which is so important for a charity. The team is approachable and wants to thoroughly understand a project - offering cost-effective solutions at every stage. It felt like we were working in partnership rather than building a transactional relationship and we would always consider AST for any future projects where translation services are required.” Lisa Harle-Ward, Wellbeing Service Manager: Localities and Information Service
