ABSTRACT
The year 2009 marked the 30th anniversary of Southall Black Sisters (SBS), which was founded in 1979 to address the needs of Asian and AfricanCaribbean women. It provides advice and advocacy services, and campaigns and conducts policy work on gender-based violence in minority communities, particularly South Asian. Although based in Southall, West London, the work of SBS has a national reach due to its work on domestic violence, suicide and harmful cultural practices such as forced marriage and honour crimes, and related issues of racism, poverty, homelessness and immigration matters. Over the years, it has helped thousands of black and minority ethnic (BME), predominantly South Asian, women escape abuse within the family. Most of these women also report high levels of depression and selfharm. Indeed, most report having contemplated or attempted suicide at least once in their lives, and a tragic few have also actually committed suicide. These facts are even more horrifi c when placed in the context of the wider picture. Research shows that South Asian women are up to three times more likely to kill themselves than women in the general population (Raleigh 1996). They also have a disproportionate rate of self-harm, attempted suicide and suicide ideation (Husain et al. 2006).
