Read on Twitter
Welcome to "How to be an anti-racist mental health researcher" #AntiRacistMHResearch
We'll be here for the next 90-mins discussing Decolonising Psychiatric Research with @SumanFernando @HummaAndleeb and @GraceRBowman
Join us! →
We'll be here for the next 90-mins discussing Decolonising Psychiatric Research with @SumanFernando @HummaAndleeb and @GraceRBowman
Join us! →
We are planning one of these 90-min seminars every month for 6 months and will be announcing the next event later on this evening. This #AntiRacistMHResearch series is a partnership between @LivPsychSoc @McPinFoundation and @Mental_Elf
If you're after some background reading/watching, you can find out more about the racism and mental health event that started this all in June 2020 on the @LivPsychSoc website #AntiRacistMHResearch https://livpsych.wordpress.com/racism-and-mental-health-event-resources/
Read why @McPinFoundation are leading on this exciting #AntiRacistMHResearch initiative on their blog #AntiRacistMHResearch https://mcpin.org/how-to-become-an-anti-racist-mental-health-researcher/
And watch the #MHQT event I organised last year: Mental health research is racist, so what are we all going to do about it? #AntiRacistMHResearch
So, what can you expect from #AntiRacistMHResearch seminar?
Our chair this evening is Will Smith @wlil_sitmh, President of @livpsychsoc & editor of @livpsych_mic
We will begin with a half hour talk from @SumanFernando on Decolonising Psychiatric Research: An Agenda for Change
Our chair this evening is Will Smith @wlil_sitmh, President of @livpsychsoc & editor of @livpsych_mic
We will begin with a half hour talk from @SumanFernando on Decolonising Psychiatric Research: An Agenda for Change
. @SumanFernando has promised to give us
- overview of decolonisation with an anti-racist approach
- examples of research which is institutionally racist
- his vision for a practical plan to decolonise psychiatric research
#AntiRacistMHResearch
- overview of decolonisation with an anti-racist approach
- examples of research which is institutionally racist
- his vision for a practical plan to decolonise psychiatric research
#AntiRacistMHResearch
After the talk from Suman @SumanFernando, @wlil_sitmh will invite @HummaAndleeb and @GraceRBowman to respond with their thoughts and questions. Humma is a new PhD student and Grace is an academic and writer #AntiRacistMHResearch
We will then open up the discussion to the people in our Zoom meeting and everyone watching online. Please tweet your questions and comments to #AntiRacistMHResearch and we'll do our best to weave them into the discussion
We have also set up a Padlet this evening to capture the thoughts and ideas of everyone participating in this event, We really want to see your posts so please share how you think we can make mental health research anti-racist #AntiRacistMHResearch https://padlet.com/contact1856/9iklz8uev6z6b1lu
So now it's over to @SumanFernando for the next half an hour or so, to talk about decolonising psychiatric research: detecting institutional racism in research proposals & ensuring an antiracist approach in psychiatric and psychological research #AntiRacistMHResearch
This #AntiRacistMHResearch talk by @SumanFernando is largely based on material in his book Institutional Racism in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology (2017), which is available from all good book shops: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783319627274
Much of the research done in psychiatry and psychology and published in reputable journals must be called out for being institutionally racist, says @SumanFernando #AntiRacistMHResearch
Mental health research is racist, says @SumanFernando:
-racist theoretical constructs are drawn
-conclusions likely to inform racist actions
-social constructs (‘race’ & ‘culture’) are muddled, which misleads & justifies stereotypes that strengthen racism
#AntiRacistMHResearch
-racist theoretical constructs are drawn
-conclusions likely to inform racist actions
-social constructs (‘race’ & ‘culture’) are muddled, which misleads & justifies stereotypes that strengthen racism
#AntiRacistMHResearch
1970s Camberwell study of depression epidemiology in immigrants ‘found’:
-West Indians had low rates because of 'cheery denial'
-Irish had high rates because 'too sensitive'
-Indigenous people were 'just right'
(All abnormal except indigenous Whites) #AntiRacistMHResearch
-West Indians had low rates because of 'cheery denial'
-Irish had high rates because 'too sensitive'
-Indigenous people were 'just right'
(All abnormal except indigenous Whites) #AntiRacistMHResearch
What do YOU think of this talk from @SumanFernando?
Please tweet us your comments and questions to #AntiRacistMHResearch
Please tweet us your comments and questions to #AntiRacistMHResearch
If we use diagnoses that have no scientific validity on basis that they are ‘useful’ (in justifying outdated narrow models of biomedical-genetic model of mental illness), we exacerbate racism against groups of people in our society, says @SumanFernando #AntiRacistMHResearch
At #AntiRacistMHResearch @SumanFernando suggests that we are over-diagnosing schizophrenia and that it is now largely a black disease
Schizophrenia research adds to the burden carried by racialised groups (especially those seen as ‘black’), says @SumanFernando, by increasing stigma and suggesting that they are ‘primitive’ in some way and should be kept under control for being dangerous #AntiRacistMHResearch
@SumanFernando speaking at #AntiRacistMHResearch:
Funders of research must institute a system of decolonising psychiatric research and monitoring research being carried out.
We need to call out any research that is likely to be racist, says Suman
Funders of research must institute a system of decolonising psychiatric research and monitoring research being carried out.
We need to call out any research that is likely to be racist, says Suman
So that's the end of @SumanFernando's talk here in the webinar
Our chair @wlil_sitmh is now asking @HummaAndleeb and @GraceRBowman to respond with their thoughts and questions
Please tweet us your comments/questions too #AntiRacistMHResearch
Our chair @wlil_sitmh is now asking @HummaAndleeb and @GraceRBowman to respond with their thoughts and questions
Please tweet us your comments/questions too #AntiRacistMHResearch
. @HummaAndleeb is currently a PhD student at UCL and was previously a senior mental health researcher at @McPinFoundation, using her lived experience to inform the research she worked on #AntiRacistMHResearch
She uses her own experiences of navigating mental health research spaces as a South Asian woman of colour as well as her social media platforms and networks to explore the topic of decolonising mental health research #AntiRacistMHResearch
. @HummaAndleeb says she wants research to be diverse and inclusive but also a welcoming and nurturing place for Black and non-black people of colour who wish to pursue, progress and thrive within the mental health research field #AntiRacistMHResearch
Researchers have to stop grouping together all people of colour into a broad BAME category in their studies. Reporting on studies in this way is not helpful for people from different ethnic groups, says @HummaAndleeb #AntiRacistMHResearch
I felt uncomfortable as a woman of colour going into a mental health research environment that was all white, says @HummaAndleeb
We need many many more people like you working in mental health research Humma! #AntiRacistMHResearch
We need many many more people like you working in mental health research Humma! #AntiRacistMHResearch
Grace Lucas (née Bowman) @GraceRBowman is an academic, writer & yoga teacher. Age 18, Grace was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Ten years later, she published a bestselling account of her experiences (Thin, 2007) & spoke widely about her recovery journey #AntiRacistMHResearch
After the birth of her children & inspired by the process of writing an illness narrative, Grace completed an MSc in Medical Humanities. Partly driven by her own lived experience of developing bodily self-awareness, which vastly improved her mental wellbeing #AntiRacistMHResearch
Grace then undertook a PhD, where she explored the relationship between embodiment and mental health. After some years working as a qualitative researcher in health sciences, Grace is now a Lecturer in Mental Health and Society at City, University of London #AntiRacistMHResearch
Her research interests centre on embodiment and embodied methodologies for understanding and researching mental health and wellbeing #AntiRacistMHResearch
As a researcher, I have a lens soldered to my face, that affects how I look at the world & my work. It's part of me & everyone else has a different lens, says @GraceRBowman
So important that researchers are aware of this & seek to look through other lenses #AntiRacistMHResearch
So important that researchers are aware of this & seek to look through other lenses #AntiRacistMHResearch
Of course the mental health researcher workforce is incredibly white. How can we bring a more diverse workforce together so that the work we do has the right blend of lenses? #AntiRacistMHResearch
@GraceRBowman
@GraceRBowman
If you want some further reading and statistics on #BlackLivesMatter 
I can recommend this reading list put together by Will at @LivPsych #AntiRacistMHResearch https://www.dropbox.com/s/b931mo04ecoxtpx/LivPsych%20-%20Black%20Lives%20Matter%20statistics%20sources%20and%20further%20reading.docx?dl=0
I can recommend this reading list put together by Will at @LivPsych #AntiRacistMHResearch https://www.dropbox.com/s/b931mo04ecoxtpx/LivPsych%20-%20Black%20Lives%20Matter%20statistics%20sources%20and%20further%20reading.docx?dl=0
Don't forget our #AntiRacistMHResearch Padlet, which you can use to share your thoughts and ideas on how we can make mental health research anti-racist https://padlet.com/contact1856/9iklz8uev6z6b1lu
We have some great suggestions already. What would YOU add?
We have some great suggestions already. What would YOU add?
Vanessa Pinfold from @McPinFoundation is now closing the #AntiRacistMHResearch by talking a little about what organisations can do to make research anti-racist. We have invited @MindCharity & @CentreforMH to speak at future events
We need to think about the translation between research and practice. We do research to change people's lives, not to simply have peer reviewed papers, says Vanessa #AntiRacistMHResearch
Read why @McPinFoundation are leading on this exciting #AntiRacistMHResearch initiative on their blog https://mcpin.org/how-to-become-an-anti-racist-mental-health-researcher/
We need to bring race into every mental health conversation, says Vanessa Pinfold from @McPinFoundation
We have started to do this in our research charity. We are all on a journey, but staying with an anti-racist perspective is our focus #AntiRacistMHResearch
We have started to do this in our research charity. We are all on a journey, but staying with an anti-racist perspective is our focus #AntiRacistMHResearch
We need to think about intersectionality in mental health research, says Vanessa from @McPinFoundation #AntiRacistMHResearch
Here's @SyedaAkther2 speaking about exactly that at our recent #MHQT event
Here's @SyedaAkther2 speaking about exactly that at our recent #MHQT event
Big thanks to everyone who has made #AntiRacistMHResearch such a success. To my co-organisers @wlil_sitmh from @livpsychsoc and Vanessa & Jess from @McPinFoundation. To our brilliant speakers @SumanFernando @HummaAndleeb & @GraceRBowman 
And to you lovely tweeps!
And to you lovely tweeps!
The next #AntiRacistMHResearch event is on 9th Feb at 5.30pm (Decolonising Psychiatric Research - part 2). It will feature @FrankKeating7, @rianna_walcott & @JacobDiggle from @MindCharity
@livpsychsoc @McPinFoundation
Book your place now! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-psychiatric-research-part-2-tickets-137427504365
@livpsychsoc @McPinFoundation
Book your place now! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-psychiatric-research-part-2-tickets-137427504365
