Steve is an emerging anti-racism consultant who works with senior leaders, helping them tackle racial inequality in their organisation, to deliver better outcomes for users of their service and staff alike.
Personal and familial experiences of racial discrimination are a significant driver for Steve’s work. As a bi-racial child growing up in a largely white neighbourhood, Steve grew up not ‘fitting in’. As he grew older Steve became aware of the role racial discrimination had in the high rates of serious mental illness on his father’s side of the family. It was in learning to live with Bipolar Disorder that Steve started his work in anti-racism.
Steve works with a range of leading national and regional organisations, to develop policy and scrutinise their programmes of work. He is currently working with a small number of organisations to develop anti-discrimination approaches, to better support the needs of racially discriminated communities.
Appointed as a Vice Chair for the Independent Mental Health Act Review, Steve supported the chair in making recommendations to the Government, leading the work to improve outcomes for Black African and Caribbean communities.
Steve has continued to work with the team from Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry of Justice, referred to as the Directors Group, to develop the Government response to Mental Health Act Review, refining the key recommendations aimed at Black African and Caribbean communities.
Steve is a Trustee for the Association of Mental Health Providers (March 2018 – current), and Mind (Sept 2017 – current) representing the experiences of people with experiences of mental illness, supporting work to reduce racial inequalities.
Steve was recognised in the 2019 Queens Birthday Honours List and appointed OBE for services to mental health.
Areas of focus:
- Development of organisation-wide Anti-Racism approaches
- Strengthening the meaningful involvement of Suicide Attempt Survivors in regional and national policy development
- Reform of the Mental Health Act and community provision for people living with serious mental illness
