The Circle of Enquiry: a novel method for participatory action research into the mental health needs of people from diverse ethnic communities

This paper outlines a specific application of participatory action research methodology for engagement with diverse and under-represented ethnic communities experiencing the psychological impact of political and social divisions. The project we present has developed a ‘circle of enquiry’ method of engagement with representative community members, appointed and trained as co-researchers, to explore how services can be more attuned to their mental health needs. This innovative qualitative method of enquiry elevates the specialist awareness of lived experience using techniques which validate the different traditions, beliefs and practices of diverse ethnic communities and people affected by systemic isolation and oppression. We present it as a universal model which can generate a critical edge to mental health enquiry research in a broad range of contexts. We outline features of the circle method used to create an immersive environment for the exchange of experience and intuitive thought through the iterative development of a series of participatory action research cycles. This paper explores this method as an advancement of action research; a type of co-creation of understandings about the complex intersections around mental health affecting the capacity of people to restore and heal. Participants have expressed the sense that this is a deeper type of listening space enabling some, for the first time in their lives, to share intrinsic aspects of accumulative forms of racialized trauma experienced by individuals, families, and communities.