ADIRA hosts second Black Mental Health Live event
Black Mental Health Live Unmuted will explore young people’s takes on intersectional topics like masculinity and LGBTQ+ issues, in association with Sheffield Flourish and SHSC, this Thursday.
Survivor-led mental health charity ADIRA is hosting a live streamed event this week giving young people from an African-Caribbean background the opportunity to “speak their truth” about mental health.
Hosted this Thursday (14 January) in association with Sheffield Flourish and Sheffield Health and Social Care (SHSC), the online event will look at mental health through four topic areas: higher education, LGBTQ+, masculinity and the generation gap.
The organisers hope to open up discussion, raise awareness of the issues and learn from young black people in Sheffield. The event will be live streamed on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
ADIRA founder Ursula Myrie said: “For far too long our young black youths have been taught to be seen and not heard, and not just by society in regards to racism, but also by their own community. This has led to years of unresolved generational pain and trauma.
“We want to use the Black Mental Health Live event to give our young people a platform where they can speak their truth, share their issues and discuss unresolved trauma, unmuted.”
Josie Soutar, Managing Director at Sheffield Flourish, said: “There are some significant inequalities within mental health that have only been heightened during the Covid-19 fallout. We went some way to unpick some of the issues at our last virtual Black Mental Health Live event in 2020, but it was clear from audience reflections that many young black people's stories are not being told at the moment.”
Sheffield Flourish and ADIRA published a post-event report following the first instalment of the series in July, which looked at the inequalities caused by systemic racism and the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from BAME communities in Sheffield.
The event explored questions around why mental health services are mainly staffed by white people, why black people are overrepresented on mental health wards, and how people can get help early when experiencing mental health difficulties, among other things.
More information on Thursday’s event is available on the Black Mental Health Live website. You can submit a question via the site or on social media using the hashtag #BMHLive.
