Description
Welcome!
Racism, discrimination and inequalities impact many of our fellow citizens and neighbours, pushing them to the margins of our communities and creating barriers that limit their abilities to live full lives. This affects us all, weakening our civic morality, and our trust and confidence in each other.
Much of the responsibility for addressing structural inequalities and systemic racism has fallen on our public institutions, who in some cases are responsible for sustaining these fault lines, and therefore are not equipped to bring about the changes that we want to see.
Bringing about a society that is just, equal, fair and anti-racist, is our collective responsibility. The biggest resource that we have to achieve this vision is ourselves. We are the people that we have been waiting for!
We choose to stand in the space between active citizens and communities and public institutions, facilitating collaborative, coproduced solutions and interventions that address some of our most complex challenges. Presently, we are tackling health inequalities, and from there we move forward.
Come and march with us. Together, we are better and stronger.
Inequalities are present in every area of life- from birth, through education and work, in experiences of family and healthcare, and even in death.
We work alongside communities and statutory partners to co-create solutions to inequality issues. Presently, our work falls into 4 streams:
Physical health -We seek to improve quality of life for those living with long-term health conditions, reduce health inequalities, and reduce pressure on the NHS by facilitating health promotion in the heart of communities, and empowering existing patients with the know-how to self-manage their conditions.
Mental health- Black families tend to present themselves late into services. By the time they present, their mental health is usually at a late or acute stage. Services have labelled communities who they do not have a relationship with as “hard to reach” or “seldom heard”. This can often form a barrier for reaching those in need.
Advice & Advocacy- Obtaining good quality advice when navigating hardship and crisis can be difficult. It is even harder when you do not have a relationship of trust with governing systems. Under such circumstances, people are left to seek advice from trusted friends, family or faith and community leaders, who may not always have accurate or up-to-date information on protocol, rights and good practice.
Children & young people- Adult mental health problems often have roots in adverse childhood and adolescent experiences. Likewise, hardship affecting adults impacts the lives of the young people they share a household with. One of these pledges was to work more closely with BME children and young people to support their mental health. This marked the start of our Young People and Mental Health coproduction collaboration.
