Black Lives Matter

Views from Edinburgh

On the 22 June this year, the Black Lives Matter movement [BLM] came to Edinburgh, with a large demonstration in Holyrood Park.  While psychologists recognise that demonstrations are one of the most potent ways of effecting change in society, they less frequently liaise directly with BLM campaigners themselves in researching the lived experiences of Black people.  Rather, research papers about protests and racism are often authored by white academics.  With this in mind, Psychologists for Social Change Scotland spoke to protesters with black and Black, Asian and minority ethnic [BAME] backgrounds. We spoke with one of the commissioners and organisers of the protest, Benitha Iradukunda, and to an ally to the BLM movement who grew up in Denmark as a child of Bengali immigrants.  The ally wished to remain anonymous. Here is what they told us.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Why did you attend the BLM protest in Edinburgh in the summer?

Benitha says: For me I have spent a long time being inspired by the likes of Malcolm X, MLK, Patricia Hill Collins and many other amazing figures in society who have helped and been a part of black history, doing this protest meant more than just the obvious fight for my rights. It was a chance for me to speak on the things I’ve raised awareness on in my schoolwork to the public. I wanted people my age or younger to see that our opinions should be heard and our presence in society seen. On my journey of studying Sociology, I have always lived with the quote ‘Be the person you want to see in the world’ and I did exactly that.

The ally we spoke to also had clear reasons for attending:

I want to be honest and say that I think I got carried along with this popular notion that you have to go. Even though I knew how important it was. And I think everything together, I feel like there was a need for some kind of solidarity.

She also recounts the racism that she still sees in the UK:

George Floyd. That happened in the U.S., but the U.K. is not absolved from racial prejudice, racial bias is racism. We’re not absolved from that in any way, shape or form. I work in the care system. I go home to sit in in at home care services. So a hundred percent of the people I go home to, they are white British people. And sometimes I would get like these comments where they would be talking about others. And if they didn’t like them, they would say stuff: it’s kind of awkward sometimes because, I’m just sitting here, like, you do know what I look like, right? They don’t really care.

What was your experience of the protest like?  

Benitha: It was a whirlwind of emotions, from the nerves of publicly speaking, to fear of EDL type counter protests attending, there waswere  a lot of emotions. One thing that many of the organisers all agreed on was that we were shocked at how many black people there was in Scotland/Edinburgh that attended. The diaspora is only 1% so to see that many of us all together fighting the same fight was emotional. There was a suspected crowd turnout of around 5000 people (one of the biggest in Scotland) and it was amazing to see families, friends & allies all come together with a combined message.  The mood was intense amongst the crowd, the messages and words spoken really resonated with everyone and for a lot of the crowd, a person’s story can be the same experience common of racism someone else has experienced.

The ally says: It was an experience. It was quite nice. Like, I remember walking up to it. It was just like so many people. But everybody kept their distance. And I was like, people are really like listening. It was quite a nice feeling, they hadwoken up to it. And everybody kept those two metres.

What is the BLM movement? And what does it mean to you?

Benitha: The BLM movement is a movement with the intention to raise awareness and fight for the freedom and rights for Black people globally. Just because slavery doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that society actually treats us like free beings. Look at the prison populations, the health inequalities, educational inequalities, etc. To me it means a life that my biracial son won’t have to learn how to behave with both sides of his race or learn as and when to use his white advantages. It means a life and world away from what is the now and the oppression I have once faced and will continue to face not only due to gender but for the pigmentation of my skin. Black Lives Matter doesn’t take away from the fact that all lives matter but if they really did to everyone then BLM wouldn’t have to be a movement. All lives can’t matter if Black lives don’t.

Ally: I think I’ve always kind of followed and supported Black Lives Matter because it started years ago. I always think about it in very broad terms, like the history of Black people.

When we talk about America, I think about the history of Black people and how it undoes in some sense seems very ridiculous to me that people that were forced to come to another country and then centuries later are treated like as if, you know, they’re treated still badly, even though they never chose to come. And I think there’s a sense of like total injustice and unfairness about it that just makes me mad. It’s been hundreds and hundreds of years and it started out as slavery. And then you still find reasons to look down on them. For what? For what reason? It’s just ignorance. And I think and I think like any other fight for fight, a fight against that injustice. I think because I’m very passionate about …. like I’m very passionate about Black Lives Matter.

We also asked Benitha what advice she would give to those wanting to be white allies to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Advice on being a helpful white ally

• Keep educating yourself and not only during Black History Month
• Recognise your white privileges
• Don’t always ask your Black friend or colleague for answers, your questions of scenarios could be a trigger for their racial trauma
• Don’t be afraid to have awkward conversations with family members who say or act out in a racially offensive manner
• Teach your kids as well how to be allies.
• Don’t touch our hair unless you’ve been invited to!!
• Instead of saying you don’t see colour, see colour and see the reality of life for other races/cultures
• Realise the damage of the white saviour mentality and the colonial appeal to it

Psychologists for Social Change Scotland is very thankful to the contributors to this piece. As an organization, we are committed to working for social justice in Psychology and welcome feedback on how we might get better at this.

Inaugural Event

We are excited to announce that our first event will be held online on February 18th at 6:30 (until 8:00) pm on Microsoft Teams. Please sign up via Eventbrite.

Speakers

Agatha Kabera, a co-founder of the Baba Yangu foundation who are a Glasgow based charity whose main objective is to eradicate the stigma and isolation associated with mental illness in the Black community. They work to create a supportive environment, and support people in accessing treatment.

Janine Bonner from Families Outside, a charity which supports families affected by imprisonment. They work to support families directly through their helpline, Regional Family Support Coordinators. They also provide  training to other professionals who are in a position to support these families. They also conduct research and campaign for policies and practices that work better for families.

Davy Thompson, the Campaign Director for White Ribbon Scotland. White Ribbon Scotland is a charity that stands against gender based violence. They believe that whilst not all men commit gender based violence, they do all have a role in ending it. Their White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) encourages men to stand against gender based violence, pledging never to commit, condone, or remain silent about it. They also aim to tackle gender based violence at its roots, and see this through from research, to policy and practise.

Laura Ho from Build Back Better. Build Back Better is a nationwide cross-communities campaign for the post coronavirus recovery plan to be an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure in a more sustainable way that works better for communities and the environment.  Areas they are campaigning for include protected public services, well-paid secure jobs, inequalities in our communities being addressed and tackled, and a Green New Deal that will adequately address the climate crisis.

Emily Cutts, founding member of The Children’s Wood. The Children’s Wood protect and hold community events in the children’s wood and North Kelvin Meadow, the last remaining pieces of wild space in the west-end of Glasgow. They believe that this land is all of our land, and should be a space for playing, learning, and joy.

Psychology for Social Change in Scotland: come have a read

Our members have been writing up a storm recently, come check it out.

Image from Pixelbay

In the second half of 2020, psychologists from all across Scotland and from a whole variety of backgrounds came together (via Zoom, of course) to discuss “The Colour of Madness: Exploring BAME mental health in the UK” (2018) which was edited by Samara Linton and Rianna Walcott. The Scottish Division of the DCP decided on the importance of the topic and chose the text and set about encouraging psychologists to take part. Key aims of the project included writing an article about their experiences, but more importantly, to take their learnings forward into our own practice and share the book amongst their networks.  

The participants think that this was an important project and we are all deeply grateful to have taken part. It is essential for psychologists to learn how to be anti-racist when we work in systems which are systemically racist. The article has now been published in the spring edition of the DCP-S review alongside an article all about Psychologists for Social Change in Scotland.

Write Brain

Another excellent publication for you to check out is the latest edition of Write Brain published by the Psychology Society at University of Glasgow. We are really proud of our undergrad members who take leading roles within Psychologists for Social Change Scotland. This publication covers important topics such as the double empathy problem in communication between autistic and neurotypical people, non-binary people’s experiences of eating disorders, LGBTQIA+ inclusion in psychological education, and so much more!

The Inaugural Event and Beyond…

After a lot of planning and collaboration, the PSC Scotland inaugural event was launched on 18^th February 2021. We were proud to invite five speakers from organisations working across Scotland to give an introduction to their work and give a call to action. 

Agatha Kabera from Baba Yangu Foundation shared her personal experience with mental health difficulties as well as her mission to help raise awareness of the various mental health issues within the Black community in Glasgow and beyond. Janine Bonner from Families Outside outlined the difficulties that families and especially children in Scotland are faced with when a family member is incarcerated. Davy Thompson from White Ribbon Scotland talked about their campaign to demonstrate the importance of all men taking an active role in stopping violence against women. Laura Ho from Build Back Better discussed the impact that Covid19 has had on employment, and explained how their campaign, Green Jobs for All can create sustainable green jobs for the future. And Emily Cutts from the Children’s Wood shared her experiences in creating and developing a green, safe space for children and families in the heart of Glasgow.

Image from pixabay.com

The events team at PSC Scotland were so grateful to all the speakers who attended and felt that the diversity amongst the campaigns created an event that catered to many different communities and psychological interests. We asked for attendees’ feedback and you told us; 

“This event was very interesting for me especially as I am currently studying Psychology and Sociology, and this really demonstrated to me how important Psychology is for supporting with social change. Although the presenters on the various social enterprises were not necessarily psychology based, it gave ideas for potential areas of study. For example, The Children’s Wood. There are many areas of untouched wasteland that are not being used or maintained by anyone. Why do we just ignore them? What stop us from creating our own spaces? Fear of doing something wrong or something? This talk in particular stood out to me as I have four dogs and the speaker, Emily, talked about how they picked up hundreds of bags of dog poo. I thought about the number of times I have walked past dog poo in the park and ignored it even though I had bags in my pocket. I realised that I could be part of the solution just by doing this one act, not a very nice act, but still. Ever since I have not walked past a poo without picking it up. I loved all the talks, everyone talked with passion and their drive is making the world a better place. I am looking forward to the future events”  

– Shona Jeffries, Psychology and Sociology Student, Queen Margaret University

The success of the inaugural event has led to a number of new members joining our monthly meetings, and as we look ahead to planning future events, we are taking the feedback from event attendees into consideration. When asking for feedback as to what events you would like to see in the future, you suggested;

“Focussed events on individual campaigns/topics e.g., the justice system, with talks from third sector and community, people with lived experience and psychologists working and researching in the area. With key actions to take away!”

– Anonymous event feedback

“I’d have liked to have heard one presentation from a psychologist discussing how and why it is important for us to get involved in social change – some practical tools. All the presentations were great, and the organisations deserve support, and it was great to hear about them, but I’d have liked to have been able to have got more of an idea of how psychologists can organise to contribute to social change.”

– Anonymous event feedback

At PSC Scotland, we are so happy to hear suggestions such as this, and even happier to report that in our next phase of events we are looking to work with the individual organisations to provide more in-depth presentations. Each of these organisations deserve the spotlight for more time, to highlight their campaigns, and answer more questions, and to co-construct ways in which psychologists can help their cause. Our events teams are currently working together to plan for this in the future. 

We are also planning to invite guest speakers whose expertise lies in psychology to give talks and presentations about the importance of psychologists getting involved in a number of ways. 

As part of the event feedback, attendees suggested how they felt PSC Scotland could improve in the future, and we were so enthused by your recommendations, such as; 

“I thought the diversity of speakers was good, and the range of issues covered was really broad. I would love to see more representation of LGBTQAI+ organisations and organisations supporting other marginalised communities, eg POC, people on the move, refugee groups, those within the disabled community represented at future events if possible”

– Anonymous event feedback

“More of the same! or an event aimed at exactly how we can get involved (through volunteering or work opportunities etc…) especially for student psychologists that are not part of an organisation yet.”

– Anonymous event feedback

“A commit to action event – where we can break into small groups and support each other plan action”

– Anonymous event feedback

Our aim is to provide support to a diverse range of campaigns and organisations to make Scotland a safer and happier place to live for everyone. We appreciate your suggestions for more diverse campaigns, and encourage psychologists at all career stages to come along to our monthly meetings to participate in planning and taking action. We are a friendly and enthusiastic group who love to hear new ideas, and welcome all new members to jump straight in and get involved! 

Your Questions, Answered

We received so many questions during our inaugural event we did not have time for them all. Some of our speakers have kindly taken the time to answer to them and you can read the responses below:

Janine Bonner from Families Outside

One thing I experienced when working in the jail was repeat ‘yo-yo’ offenders who would be liberated and then immediately offend again, often because of a turbulent family dynamic at home. How could psychology and MH services support the adjustment of prisoners newly liberated to stop reoffending?

It may be helpful for mental health services to provide more crisis response teams in the community that family members are able to access.  I have at times tried to support family members who are concerned about their loved one’s mental health on return from prison and have tried repeatedly to get help for them.  There can be various barriers to this – the person not being registered with a GP and not being motivated to do so or being barred from their practice.  If the person in question does not see or agree that their mental health is poor, families have little recourse to getting them help, I have tried to support this and have been sent round the houses from CMHT to social work to GPs and at times have not got anywhere with a resolution.  I’ve also had family members express to me that before their loved one went to prison, they could see that there was a decline in their mental health and tried to get them assistance with this but met the barriers mentioned above and subsequently, their loved one participated in offending behaviour and was imprisoned. 

It may also be useful to have a liaison team between MH services in the community and within the prison to ensure a smooth transition from the prison to the community.  I recently supported a family (and I share this story with the person I support’s permission) where they were having to have a lot of contact with the prison, prior to release, in connection with their loved one’s mental health.  The prison involved them in case conferences which was helpful and with my support in the community, and the support of New Routes prison mentor, we tried to support the family to get a GP appointment in place for the day of release as there was medication related to mental health which needed to be continued.  Despite the family member speaking the GP practice three times, they were unable to secure an appointment before the day of release, asked to phone on the day and the person would be seen.  On the day of release, in trying to get that appointment with Dr, the reception was quite resistant and it took the New Routes worker calling on the person’s behalf to get them that appointment to ensure a continuation in their medication.  This is just a snapshot of a family who have had intensive support prior to and after release to ensure the person is supported and it still did not go smoothly and there were bumps in the road.  For people without support (both families and the person leaving prison), it’s easy to see how this could fall apart.

Has the ACEs research helped inform public understanding of your organisation and the understanding of children and young people with this experience?

I would hope that the ACEs agenda has raised the profile of children and young people who are affected by family imprisonment, as we find these families are often forgotten or the issues of imprisonment can go unnoticed or are not fully understood by the services and communities around them. We regularly reference ACEs in our training and awareness raising sessions and discuss the impact on children & young people in this context.  As a worker, I am not able to identify the reverse: has the ACEs agenda helped to raise our profile and work as an organisation? – I’m not able to say.   I have attended ACEs groups in the areas I work in, but these don’t appear to be regularly active.  Having imprisonment of a family member as one of the original 10 ACEs proven to increase the risk of negative outcomes has however provided helpful evidence to back the message that we promote in relation to the impact of imprisonment, as has subsequent research such as Turney (2018), which noted that children with the ACE of household imprisonment experience other ACE’s at five times the rate of their peers.

How do we refer families?

You can refer families by contacting our freephone Helpline on 0800 254 0088.  You can also call this line if you have questions related to imprisonment, that may help you to support someone. You can also email support@familiesoutside.org.uk ; text FAMOUT to 60777, followed by your message ; or use our webchat service (which provides simultaneous translation into most modern languages at www.familiesoutside.org.uk.

How can we affect change in society’s stigma against families affected by imprisonment?

The best way to effect change would be by recognising the wide-reaching effects of imprisonment within a family, both practical and emotional and helping them to get specialised support with this or getting info that will help you to support them. You can also support this change by seeing the relationship between family members and not the crime and adopting a non-judgemental attitude when working with the families affected by imprisonment.  They are quite often left feeling guilty and stigmatised when they have done nothing wrong.  And by recognising that contact between families and children with a loved one in prison is their right (unless it would be harmful for them to have contact – Article 9 of the UNCRC), it is helpful for all by helping to facilitate that.

Is there any particular research that you think is lacking that would be helpful?

As mentioned during the presentation, research on the question of right to support vs right to privacy as the UNCRC is (hopefully) incorporated into domestic law would be useful, as would research into the effects of Covid-19 specifically on families affected by imprisonment (though the latter is beginning to emerge: see INCCIP (2020) at http://inccip.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/INCCIP-Network-Experiences-of-COVID-copy.pdf , Armstrong et al. 2020 at https://scotlandinlockdown.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/scotlock_project_report_full_dec2020-2.pdf ; and Child Rights Connect (2020)  https://www.childrightsconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/briefing_covid19-and-cip_final.pdf  

It would also be useful to see specific research on how Covid 19 measures affected the mental health of people imprisoned during the pandemic, as this will have a subsequent effect on families.

How are families and children supported where the release of a family member is not welcomed or makes them more vulnerable? thinking about your comment that the removal of a person from the home may come with a sense of relief.

We are able to support children and families who both welcome the release of the person in prison and those who meet it with a sense of trepidation.  The principles are to listen to their anxieties and to what they would like to have happen and to support them to have their voice heard(Article 12, NCRC).  It’s also important to revisit this question, as children may change their minds (in either direction) over time (see Beresford 2018 at  http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/portals/0/documents/what%20about%20me.pdf#:~:text=About%20the%20Prison%20Reform%20Trust%20The%20Prison%20Reform,the%20unnecessary%20imprisonment%20of%20women%20in%20the%20UK.).

It may also be about finding ways to support practically – such as encouraging them to make their own wellbeing a priority, helping them to make a plan about how they will cope, referring them relevant services such as domestic abuse or substance use services or communicating with local community safety teams.

Laura Ho from Build Back Better/Green New Deal UK 

 Is there any research in this area that is particularly lacking that psychologists could work to address?

Any research focussed on building social movements and what messaging and techniques work to motivate people to take action is useful to us!

Laura, thanks so much – this feels so linked to mental health and well-being. Are there ways we can support you with research ideas etc?

Super linked to mental health and well being! Any research which explores the link between the environmental and climate crisis and well-being would be really interesting to us. As well as research on building effective social movements.

It sounds like you have done so much amazing work already. Sometimes psychologists aren’t good at using their voice. How could we learn from your skills in getting your voice heard? 

Telling personal stories is the best way of using your voice in my experience! Telling really powerful, first-person stories about why you care about particular issues and what life/work experiences you have had that have lead you there can be much more impactful than facts and figures sometimes.

Presumably in this case there’s a role for psychologists with expertise in behaviour change etc.?

Yes! Although in organising for a Green New Deal we are much more interested in behaviour change to get people to start organising and campaigning for structural change rather than asking people to change things about their lifestyles.

Your Questions, Answered

We received so many questions during our inaugural event we did not have time for them all. Some of our speakers have kindly taken the time to answer to them and you can read the responses below:

Janine Bonner from Families Outside

One thing I experienced when working in the jail was repeat ‘yo-yo’ offenders who would be liberated and then immediately offend again, often because of a turbulent family dynamic at home. How could psychology and MH services support the adjustment of prisoners newly liberated to stop reoffending?

It may be helpful for mental health services to provide more crisis response teams in the community that family members are able to access.  I have at times tried to support family members who are concerned about their loved one’s mental health on return from prison and have tried repeatedly to get help for them.  There can be various barriers to this – the person not being registered with a GP and not being motivated to do so or being barred from their practice.  If the person in question does not see or agree that their mental health is poor, families have little recourse to getting them help, I have tried to support this and have been sent round the houses from CMHT to social work to GPs and at times have not got anywhere with a resolution.  I’ve also had family members express to me that before their loved one went to prison, they could see that there was a decline in their mental health and tried to get them assistance with this but met the barriers mentioned above and subsequently, their loved one participated in offending behaviour and was imprisoned. 

It may also be useful to have a liaison team between MH services in the community and within the prison to ensure a smooth transition from the prison to the community.  I recently supported a family (and I share this story with the person I support’s permission) where they were having to have a lot of contact with the prison, prior to release, in connection with their loved one’s mental health.  The prison involved them in case conferences which was helpful and with my support in the community, and the support of New Routes prison mentor, we tried to support the family to get a GP appointment in place for the day of release as there was medication related to mental health which needed to be continued.  Despite the family member speaking the GP practice three times, they were unable to secure an appointment before the day of release, asked to phone on the day and the person would be seen.  On the day of release, in trying to get that appointment with Dr, the reception was quite resistant and it took the New Routes worker calling on the person’s behalf to get them that appointment to ensure a continuation in their medication.  This is just a snapshot of a family who have had intensive support prior to and after release to ensure the person is supported and it still did not go smoothly and there were bumps in the road.  For people without support (both families and the person leaving prison), it’s easy to see how this could fall apart.

Has the ACEs research helped inform public understanding of your organisation and the understanding of children and young people with this experience?

I would hope that the ACEs agenda has raised the profile of children and young people who are affected by family imprisonment, as we find these families are often forgotten or the issues of imprisonment can go unnoticed or are not fully understood by the services and communities around them. We regularly reference ACEs in our training and awareness raising sessions and discuss the impact on children & young people in this context.  As a worker, I am not able to identify the reverse: has the ACEs agenda helped to raise our profile and work as an organisation? – I’m not able to say.   I have attended ACEs groups in the areas I work in, but these don’t appear to be regularly active.  Having imprisonment of a family member as one of the original 10 ACEs proven to increase the risk of negative outcomes has however provided helpful evidence to back the message that we promote in relation to the impact of imprisonment, as has subsequent research such as Turney (2018), which noted that children with the ACE of household imprisonment experience other ACE’s at five times the rate of their peers.

How do we refer families?

You can refer families by contacting our freephone Helpline on 0800 254 0088.  You can also call this line if you have questions related to imprisonment, that may help you to support someone. You can also email support@familiesoutside.org.uk ; text FAMOUT to 60777, followed by your message ; or use our webchat service (which provides simultaneous translation into most modern languages at www.familiesoutside.org.uk.

How can we affect change in society’s stigma against families affected by imprisonment?

The best way to effect change would be by recognising the wide-reaching effects of imprisonment within a family, both practical and emotional and helping them to get specialised support with this or getting info that will help you to support them. You can also support this change by seeing the relationship between family members and not the crime and adopting a non-judgemental attitude when working with the families affected by imprisonment.  They are quite often left feeling guilty and stigmatised when they have done nothing wrong.  And by recognising that contact between families and children with a loved one in prison is their right (unless it would be harmful for them to have contact – Article 9 of the UNCRC), it is helpful for all by helping to facilitate that.

Is there any particular research that you think is lacking that would be helpful?

As mentioned during the presentation, research on the question of right to support vs right to privacy as the UNCRC is (hopefully) incorporated into domestic law would be useful, as would research into the effects of Covid-19 specifically on families affected by imprisonment (though the latter is beginning to emerge: see INCCIP (2020) at http://inccip.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/INCCIP-Network-Experiences-of-COVID-copy.pdf , Armstrong et al. 2020 at https://scotlandinlockdown.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/scotlock_project_report_full_dec2020-2.pdf ; and Child Rights Connect (2020)  https://www.childrightsconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/briefing_covid19-and-cip_final.pdf  

It would also be useful to see specific research on how Covid 19 measures affected the mental health of people imprisoned during the pandemic, as this will have a subsequent effect on families.

How are families and children supported where the release of a family member is not welcomed or makes them more vulnerable? thinking about your comment that the removal of a person from the home may come with a sense of relief.

We are able to support children and families who both welcome the release of the person in prison and those who meet it with a sense of trepidation.  The principles are to listen to their anxieties and to what they would like to have happen and to support them to have their voice heard(Article 12, NCRC).  It’s also important to revisit this question, as children may change their minds (in either direction) over time (see Beresford 2018 at  http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/portals/0/documents/what%20about%20me.pdf#:~:text=About%20the%20Prison%20Reform%20Trust%20The%20Prison%20Reform,the%20unnecessary%20imprisonment%20of%20women%20in%20the%20UK.).

It may also be about finding ways to support practically – such as encouraging them to make their own wellbeing a priority, helping them to make a plan about how they will cope, referring them relevant services such as domestic abuse or substance use services or communicating with local community safety teams.

Laura Ho from Build Back Better/Green New Deal UK 

 Is there any research in this area that is particularly lacking that psychologists could work to address?

Any research focussed on building social movements and what messaging and techniques work to motivate people to take action is useful to us!

Laura, thanks so much – this feels so linked to mental health and well-being. Are there ways we can support you with research ideas etc?

Super linked to mental health and well being! Any research which explores the link between the environmental and climate crisis and well-being would be really interesting to us. As well as research on building effective social movements.

It sounds like you have done so much amazing work already. Sometimes psychologists aren’t good at using their voice. How could we learn from your skills in getting your voice heard? 

Telling personal stories is the best way of using your voice in my experience! Telling really powerful, first-person stories about why you care about particular issues and what life/work experiences you have had that have lead you there can be much more impactful than facts and figures sometimes.

Presumably in this case there’s a role for psychologists with expertise in behaviour change etc.?

Yes! Although in organising for a Green New Deal we are much more interested in behaviour change to get people to start organising and campaigning for structural change rather than asking people to change things about their lifestyles.

The Inaugural Event and Beyond…

After a lot of planning and collaboration, the PSC Scotland inaugural event was launched on 18^th February 2021. We were proud to invite five speakers from organisations working across Scotland to give an introduction to their work and give a call to action. 

Agatha Kabera from Baba Yangu Foundation shared her personal experience with mental health difficulties as well as her mission to help raise awareness of the various mental health issues within the Black community in Glasgow and beyond. Janine Bonner from Families Outside outlined the difficulties that families and especially children in Scotland are faced with when a family member is incarcerated. Davy Thompson from White Ribbon Scotland talked about their campaign to demonstrate the importance of all men taking an active role in stopping violence against women. Laura Ho from Build Back Better discussed the impact that Covid19 has had on employment, and explained how their campaign, Green Jobs for All can create sustainable green jobs for the future. And Emily Cutts from the Children’s Wood shared her experiences in creating and developing a green, safe space for children and families in the heart of Glasgow.

Image from pixabay.com

The events team at PSC Scotland were so grateful to all the speakers who attended and felt that the diversity amongst the campaigns created an event that catered to many different communities and psychological interests. We asked for attendees’ feedback and you told us; 

“This event was very interesting for me especially as I am currently studying Psychology and Sociology, and this really demonstrated to me how important Psychology is for supporting with social change. Although the presenters on the various social enterprises were not necessarily psychology based, it gave ideas for potential areas of study. For example, The Children’s Wood. There are many areas of untouched wasteland that are not being used or maintained by anyone. Why do we just ignore them? What stop us from creating our own spaces? Fear of doing something wrong or something? This talk in particular stood out to me as I have four dogs and the speaker, Emily, talked about how they picked up hundreds of bags of dog poo. I thought about the number of times I have walked past dog poo in the park and ignored it even though I had bags in my pocket. I realised that I could be part of the solution just by doing this one act, not a very nice act, but still. Ever since I have not walked past a poo without picking it up. I loved all the talks, everyone talked with passion and their drive is making the world a better place. I am looking forward to the future events”  

– Shona Jeffries, Psychology and Sociology Student, Queen Margaret University

The success of the inaugural event has led to a number of new members joining our monthly meetings, and as we look ahead to planning future events, we are taking the feedback from event attendees into consideration. When asking for feedback as to what events you would like to see in the future, you suggested;

“Focussed events on individual campaigns/topics e.g., the justice system, with talks from third sector and community, people with lived experience and psychologists working and researching in the area. With key actions to take away!”

– Anonymous event feedback

“I’d have liked to have heard one presentation from a psychologist discussing how and why it is important for us to get involved in social change – some practical tools. All the presentations were great, and the organisations deserve support, and it was great to hear about them, but I’d have liked to have been able to have got more of an idea of how psychologists can organise to contribute to social change.”

– Anonymous event feedback

At PSC Scotland, we are so happy to hear suggestions such as this, and even happier to report that in our next phase of events we are looking to work with the individual organisations to provide more in-depth presentations. Each of these organisations deserve the spotlight for more time, to highlight their campaigns, and answer more questions, and to co-construct ways in which psychologists can help their cause. Our events teams are currently working together to plan for this in the future. 

We are also planning to invite guest speakers whose expertise lies in psychology to give talks and presentations about the importance of psychologists getting involved in a number of ways. 

As part of the event feedback, attendees suggested how they felt PSC Scotland could improve in the future, and we were so enthused by your recommendations, such as; 

“I thought the diversity of speakers was good, and the range of issues covered was really broad. I would love to see more representation of LGBTQAI+ organisations and organisations supporting other marginalised communities, eg POC, people on the move, refugee groups, those within the disabled community represented at future events if possible”

– Anonymous event feedback

“More of the same! or an event aimed at exactly how we can get involved (through volunteering or work opportunities etc…) especially for student psychologists that are not part of an organisation yet.”

– Anonymous event feedback

“A commit to action event – where we can break into small groups and support each other plan action”

– Anonymous event feedback

Our aim is to provide support to a diverse range of campaigns and organisations to make Scotland a safer and happier place to live for everyone. We appreciate your suggestions for more diverse campaigns, and encourage psychologists at all career stages to come along to our monthly meetings to participate in planning and taking action. We are a friendly and enthusiastic group who love to hear new ideas, and welcome all new members to jump straight in and get involved! 

Psychology for Social Change in Scotland: come have a read

Our members have been writing up a storm recently, come check it out.

Image from Pixelbay

In the second half of 2020, psychologists from all across Scotland and from a whole variety of backgrounds came together (via Zoom, of course) to discuss “The Colour of Madness: Exploring BAME mental health in the UK” (2018) which was edited by Samara Linton and Rianna Walcott. The Scottish Division of the DCP decided on the importance of the topic and chose the text and set about encouraging psychologists to take part. Key aims of the project included writing an article about their experiences, but more importantly, to take their learnings forward into our own practice and share the book amongst their networks.  

The participants think that this was an important project and we are all deeply grateful to have taken part. It is essential for psychologists to learn how to be anti-racist when we work in systems which are systemically racist. The article has now been published in the spring edition of the DCP-S review alongside an article all about Psychologists for Social Change in Scotland.

Write Brain

Another excellent publication for you to check out is the latest edition of Write Brain published by the Psychology Society at University of Glasgow. We are really proud of our undergrad members who take leading roles within Psychologists for Social Change Scotland. This publication covers important topics such as the double empathy problem in communication between autistic and neurotypical people, non-binary people’s experiences of eating disorders, LGBTQIA+ inclusion in psychological education, and so much more!

Inaugural Event

We are excited to announce that our first event will be held online on February 18th at 6:30 (until 8:00) pm on Microsoft Teams. Please sign up via Eventbrite.

Speakers

Agatha Kabera, a co-founder of the Baba Yangu foundation who are a Glasgow based charity whose main objective is to eradicate the stigma and isolation associated with mental illness in the Black community. They work to create a supportive environment, and support people in accessing treatment.

Janine Bonner from Families Outside, a charity which supports families affected by imprisonment. They work to support families directly through their helpline, Regional Family Support Coordinators. They also provide  training to other professionals who are in a position to support these families. They also conduct research and campaign for policies and practices that work better for families.

Davy Thompson, the Campaign Director for White Ribbon Scotland. White Ribbon Scotland is a charity that stands against gender based violence. They believe that whilst not all men commit gender based violence, they do all have a role in ending it. Their White Ribbon Campaign (WRC) encourages men to stand against gender based violence, pledging never to commit, condone, or remain silent about it. They also aim to tackle gender based violence at its roots, and see this through from research, to policy and practise.

Laura Ho from Build Back Better. Build Back Better is a nationwide cross-communities campaign for the post coronavirus recovery plan to be an opportunity to rebuild infrastructure in a more sustainable way that works better for communities and the environment.  Areas they are campaigning for include protected public services, well-paid secure jobs, inequalities in our communities being addressed and tackled, and a Green New Deal that will adequately address the climate crisis.

Emily Cutts, founding member of The Children’s Wood. The Children’s Wood protect and hold community events in the children’s wood and North Kelvin Meadow, the last remaining pieces of wild space in the west-end of Glasgow. They believe that this land is all of our land, and should be a space for playing, learning, and joy.

Black Lives Matter

Views from Edinburgh

On the 22 June this year, the Black Lives Matter movement [BLM] came to Edinburgh, with a large demonstration in Holyrood Park.  While psychologists recognise that demonstrations are one of the most potent ways of effecting change in society, they less frequently liaise directly with BLM campaigners themselves in researching the lived experiences of Black people.  Rather, research papers about protests and racism are often authored by white academics.  With this in mind, Psychologists for Social Change Scotland spoke to protesters with black and Black, Asian and minority ethnic [BAME] backgrounds. We spoke with one of the commissioners and organisers of the protest, Benitha Iradukunda, and to an ally to the BLM movement who grew up in Denmark as a child of Bengali immigrants.  The ally wished to remain anonymous. Here is what they told us.

Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Why did you attend the BLM protest in Edinburgh in the summer?

Benitha says: For me I have spent a long time being inspired by the likes of Malcolm X, MLK, Patricia Hill Collins and many other amazing figures in society who have helped and been a part of black history, doing this protest meant more than just the obvious fight for my rights. It was a chance for me to speak on the things I’ve raised awareness on in my schoolwork to the public. I wanted people my age or younger to see that our opinions should be heard and our presence in society seen. On my journey of studying Sociology, I have always lived with the quote ‘Be the person you want to see in the world’ and I did exactly that.

The ally we spoke to also had clear reasons for attending:

I want to be honest and say that I think I got carried along with this popular notion that you have to go. Even though I knew how important it was. And I think everything together, I feel like there was a need for some kind of solidarity.

She also recounts the racism that she still sees in the UK:

George Floyd. That happened in the U.S., but the U.K. is not absolved from racial prejudice, racial bias is racism. We’re not absolved from that in any way, shape or form. I work in the care system. I go home to sit in in at home care services. So a hundred percent of the people I go home to, they are white British people. And sometimes I would get like these comments where they would be talking about others. And if they didn’t like them, they would say stuff: it’s kind of awkward sometimes because, I’m just sitting here, like, you do know what I look like, right? They don’t really care.

What was your experience of the protest like?  

Benitha: It was a whirlwind of emotions, from the nerves of publicly speaking, to fear of EDL type counter protests attending, there waswere  a lot of emotions. One thing that many of the organisers all agreed on was that we were shocked at how many black people there was in Scotland/Edinburgh that attended. The diaspora is only 1% so to see that many of us all together fighting the same fight was emotional. There was a suspected crowd turnout of around 5000 people (one of the biggest in Scotland) and it was amazing to see families, friends & allies all come together with a combined message.  The mood was intense amongst the crowd, the messages and words spoken really resonated with everyone and for a lot of the crowd, a person’s story can be the same experience common of racism someone else has experienced.

The ally says: It was an experience. It was quite nice. Like, I remember walking up to it. It was just like so many people. But everybody kept their distance. And I was like, people are really like listening. It was quite a nice feeling, they hadwoken up to it. And everybody kept those two metres.

What is the BLM movement? And what does it mean to you?

Benitha: The BLM movement is a movement with the intention to raise awareness and fight for the freedom and rights for Black people globally. Just because slavery doesn’t exist doesn’t mean that society actually treats us like free beings. Look at the prison populations, the health inequalities, educational inequalities, etc. To me it means a life that my biracial son won’t have to learn how to behave with both sides of his race or learn as and when to use his white advantages. It means a life and world away from what is the now and the oppression I have once faced and will continue to face not only due to gender but for the pigmentation of my skin. Black Lives Matter doesn’t take away from the fact that all lives matter but if they really did to everyone then BLM wouldn’t have to be a movement. All lives can’t matter if Black lives don’t.

Ally: I think I’ve always kind of followed and supported Black Lives Matter because it started years ago. I always think about it in very broad terms, like the history of Black people.

When we talk about America, I think about the history of Black people and how it undoes in some sense seems very ridiculous to me that people that were forced to come to another country and then centuries later are treated like as if, you know, they’re treated still badly, even though they never chose to come. And I think there’s a sense of like total injustice and unfairness about it that just makes me mad. It’s been hundreds and hundreds of years and it started out as slavery. And then you still find reasons to look down on them. For what? For what reason? It’s just ignorance. And I think and I think like any other fight for fight, a fight against that injustice. I think because I’m very passionate about …. like I’m very passionate about Black Lives Matter.

We also asked Benitha what advice she would give to those wanting to be white allies to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Advice on being a helpful white ally

• Keep educating yourself and not only during Black History Month
• Recognise your white privileges
• Don’t always ask your Black friend or colleague for answers, your questions of scenarios could be a trigger for their racial trauma
• Don’t be afraid to have awkward conversations with family members who say or act out in a racially offensive manner
• Teach your kids as well how to be allies.
• Don’t touch our hair unless you’ve been invited to!!
• Instead of saying you don’t see colour, see colour and see the reality of life for other races/cultures
• Realise the damage of the white saviour mentality and the colonial appeal to it

Psychologists for Social Change Scotland is very thankful to the contributors to this piece. As an organization, we are committed to working for social justice in Psychology and welcome feedback on how we might get better at this.