Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay .

Whilst organisations will be clamouring to virtue signal for good PR on social media, many practices and policies they actively enforce will continue to put people that suffer with a mental health problem at risk and fail to protect them.

The police, ambulance staff, & MH services all continue to make systematic & gross failings that ultimately cost people their life. And the media continue to perpetuate the stigma of mental health by reporting such nonsense as “Police restraint of paranoid schizophrenic...”

Kevin Clarke was not a paranoid schizophrenic. He was a gentle, loving, kind man. Someone’s son. Someone’s brother. Who happened to be suffering with a schizophrenic episode. That is not his whole story.

We all have a mental health, every single one of us. Just like we all have a physical health. Sometimes we will have good days and other times we will have bad days. We must remove the the stigma around mental health, because this stigma puts people at risk and costs lives.

Black people & people from other “minority ethnic” communities are 40% more likely to access mental health services via the criminal justice system rather than health service. When they do come into contact with MH services they are more likely to have force used against them.

The racial disparities that exist within the mental health service is truly shocking and something we don’t speak about enough. This must be eradicated.

We need to see serious changes to the way we approach and treat mental health. Both from the agencies in place that have a duty of care to protect people with mental health issues and from each of us an individuals. There is so much more we can do.

And where possible, look after your mental health. Don’t want until you have a breakdown or are diagnosed with something to get treatment. Take proactive steps to protect your mental health and stay healthy. None of us are immune.

While you’re here, please remember the memorial GoFundMe for Kevin Clarke is still active and every penny received will go directly to the Clarke family to help support them & provide some rest bite for them at this difficult time. #JusticeForKevinClarke https://gf.me/u/ywvi3s 

#WorldMentalHealthDay

BLACK MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS

Lambeth has the highest number of Black people accessing mental health services in the UK. @BlackThrive was created to initiate the system change required to see Black residents thrive across the borough.

Please support!

If you have any other links to organisations doing important work around mental health. Particularly for the Black community, please feel free to post them up in the replies.