Calling all mental health charities: I appreciate you but do you genuinely appreciate me?

Calling all mental health charities: I appreciate you but do you genuinely appreciate me?

Started
20 October 2021
Petition to
Mental Health Charities
Signatures: 501Next Goal: 1,000
Support now

Why this petition matters

Started by Antonio Ferreira

Dear mental health charities,

I appreciate everything you do/are doing in the mental health arena; however, I question whether you share the same genuine appreciation for me and others from racialised communities who are your volunteers.

Since the black lives matter movement, I have acknowledged many charities wanting to take an anti-racist approach.
Still, as a volunteer for eight different mental health charities, I have perceived this as only a title to keep up with appearances, more than genuine and authentic keenness to do so.

As a young, black, male mental health advocate, I seem to facilitate this appearance rather than experiencing real action and engagement from senior leadership.

As much as we should feel no shame in sharing our stories, we should also feel no shame in speaking up about our concerns around race equality policies.

We should feel acknowledged in scrutinising inequalities that remain present.
We should feel able to speak on our terms and not only on tours of the charity.

Here, the aim is not to bluff the need to do more for racialised communities; it is to do more genuinely.
So here, the objective is to ensure and solidify tokenism is not the act towards being an anti-racist organisation.

"I will not receive my sense of belonging from being a volunteer and lose it once I return to being a black male. Nor will I be limited to false review and feedback sessions, especially where the appearance of senior leadership is scarce."
“I refuse to, as a volunteer, be shackled to what is tokenism.”
“I want real change!”

I ask everyone to sign this petition, demanding senior leaders of mental health charities to take genuine accountability for these so-called anti-racist approaches.

To agree, sign and illustrate an action plan engaging volunteers from racialised communities and senior leaders, to drive race equality policies.
To release a statement as to why they authentically feel this is important!

I aim to organise a day for all us volunteer’s to strike together; please join me and stand by me!

Support now
Signatures: 501Next Goal: 1,000
Support now
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Decision-Makers

  • Mental Health Charities