We are honoured to sit alongside the other charities listed in this article from Dr. Ariel Breaux Torres, via JMB Consulting, as trying to take a deep-rooted approach to understanding collective community power and its importance for anti-racism work.

Dr. Breaux Torres’ article is a hugely insightful commentary on the balance of traditional charity structure vs. the need for, and ability to, take transformative action. Charities can’t just be ‘fixers’, no matter how strongly the systems around us are set up to enable only that. Real change requires deeper shifts.

We know that current mainstream understandings and approaches to mental health are part of the problem, and for many they only make things worse. This is why we are excited by the direction the Welsh Government’s 10 year mental health and wellbeing and suicide and self-harm strategies are taking. (Read more about that here.)

We know, too, that we are stuck in a harmful system – our CEO Ewan has spoke about this as far back as our initial launch. We must do things differently to achieve the change we need to see racism – and other forms of social or system oppression – be brought to an end.

Equally, we know this takes time, which can be hugely frustrating for everyone involved. We know, too, that blame is the discharge of pain and is the inverse of accountability. That’s why we are are continually trying to figure out how to work best with others,  do better, and to achieve the change needed from the inside.

We’ve also recently commented on how changes are needed to UK mental health law to help prevent further systemic harm to racialised communities. You can read more about that here.

Read original article here: The Limits of Abolition in the Charity Sector by Dr. Ariel Breaux Torres — JMB Consulting