Centre for Mental Health is committed to taking an anti-racist approach in every aspect of our work. Since 2020, a group of staff has been meeting to discuss what needs to be done in our own organisation to tackle racism. We set out an initial anti-racism statement and a workplan outlining our intentions to tackle racism at both a structural and individual level.
Read our anti-racism statement
Our work so far
There’s lots more work for us to do to become a truly anti-racist organisation. But here are a few of the steps we’ve made on the journey so far:
- Creating our race and ethnicity terminology guide
- Providing anti-racism training at least once a year to our staff team and trustees
- Partnering with an external charity recruitment agency to reach a wider, more diverse range of candidates; and using their process which removes identifying details from applications, to reduce discrimination within our recruitment
- Setting up our Board sub-committee for Equality and HR to ensure that our progress in anti-racist practice is monitored by and accountable to our trustees
- Offering paid internships to young people from racialised communities to help redress the lack of representation of people of colour within policy and research spaces
- Driving forward our work on race equity and mental health – and considering all of our research through the lens of race equity
- Promoting diverse voices across our blogs, podcasts and other communications.
Independent review of Centre for Mental Health’s anti-racism work
In 2023, we commissioned an independent consultant to review our progress towards anti-racist practices and make recommendations for future work. This culminated in an independent report, which found that while we had made significant steps in parts of our action plan, progress had slowed and the structures for our anti-racism work needed updating. You can read the full report and key findings here.
Our anti-racism objectives
These objectives have been drawn from the independent review of the Centre’s anti-racism work conducted by Kahra Wayland-Larty in October 2023.
Specific tasks and actions have been distilled from these objectives to form a separate work plan for the anti-racism committee to take forward.
1. Build a culture of solidarity in which we demonstrate our commitment to dismantling racist structures
We will:
- Ensure we all have the resources we need – upskilling staff, providing clear and consistent induction, and allocating funding
- Foster a culture where we take time to listen to and help each other
- Strengthen relationships and emotional support – for line-managers and staff groups
- Prioritise joy and celebration – through internal comms and in our staff meetings
- Communicate progress – as overseen by the anti-racism group.
2. Build a talented, diverse team to forefront our work in fighting inequalities
We will:
- Develop further inclusive recruitment practices
- Support professional development and progression routes for staff of colour
- Develop our trustees and their relationships with staff
- Offer training and opportunities for learning
- Identify tools for self-assessment of progress
- Offer purposeful internships.
3. Contribute to the wider anti-racist movement
We will:
- Build equitable external relationships
- Support cross-sector initiatives
- Take opportunities to join anti-racism networks and arrange mutual support.
4. Establish underpinning structures to aid progress
We will:
- Improve the structure and mandate of the anti-racism working group into a smaller action-focused committee
- Establish a sub-committee of Trustees, responsible for the governance of Equality and Human Resources, overseen by the Centre’s Board
- Review and refresh supporting policies such as performance management and disciplinary protocols and an internal safeguarding policy.
