Promoting mental health across the colour line
Background and Rationale
Work on race equality has traditionally focused on the lived experience of being black in terms of mental health and diagnosis. But for co-production to stand any chance of success understanding has to be two-way, especially in relation to coproduction: we need to understand the lived experience of being white alongside and in equal partnership with the lived experience of being black. This is the aim of The Race Equality and Whiteness Network in the Collaborating Centre for Values-based Practice. It was set up following a conference at St Catherine’s College in October 2016.
Network Leads
Lead: Dr Colin King
Freelance writer and activist; Head Coach, Black and Asian Coaches Association
Co Lead: Simon Clarke
Freelance writer, educationist and musician (guitar).
Aims of the Network
- Work with survivors, practitioners and researchers to develop frameworks and concepts to address and resolve race equality issues through coproduction.
- Examine issues around diagnosis and race from the perspective of what it means to be white as well as what it means to be black.
- Reflect on the lived experience of survivors of the Mental Health system and of practitioners and researchers through presentations and workshops that explore the live experience of whiteness alongside the lived experience of blackness.
- Work with statutory and voluntary agencies on ways of supporting co-production good practice through teaching and learning strategies that are of practical use to researchers, survivors, and practitioners alike.
Members
The Network is open to all those with an interest in or involvement in this area.
It brings together the expertise of individuals: survivors, and those working in health, social care and education. It offers a forum that will produce new perspectives on diagnosis and treatment by reason of its unique approach. For, it will interrogate the methodologies and values that inform diagnosis and treatment in order to understand the lived experience of being white alongside and in equal partnership with the lived experience of being black.
For a list of members please CLICK HERE
Meetings
The objectives will be taken forward by means of workshops, jointly hosted by organisations represented from within the network.
Next meeting:
Training for Race Equality across the Colour Line in Mental Health
A Scoping Webinar – March 24 2021 12 – 2pm
Click here for further information and registration
Past Meetings
For a list of past meetings please CLICK HERE
Progress Report 2016 – 2018
The update outlines the channels through which the Network has worked to achieve their aims from the launch of the Network in 2016 through to the end of 2018.
To read the update please CLICK HERE
