A new report, ‘Trauma-informed care and racialised communities’ finds that people from racialised communities face disproportionately high levels of trauma, and that public services meant to support them often reproduce this trauma rather than alleviate it.
The report from Centre for Mental Health and Coffee Afrik CIC, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, demonstrates that racism not only causes trauma and mental illness but also prevents people from getting the right support for their mental health from the NHS.
People from racialised communities have experienced historical trauma as a legacy of racism, slavery, colonialism, and segregation, compounded by the wearing effects of racial injustice in the present. The Windrush scandal, which stripped people who had lived legally in Britain for more than half a century of their legal rights, caused material loss and lasting psychological damage, and the hostile environment persists to this day.
The report finds that people’s experiences of healthcare, policing, housing and social care too often make the distress felt by people who have faced racism worse.
Overt racism is becoming more common, fuelled and normalised by divisive rhetoric from politicians and others in positions of power and influence. These experiences are formative and long-lasting, affecting self-worth, educational attainment and overall life outcomes.
Mental health services can help to heal the effects of racial trauma by addressing the structural systemic injustices that cause it and by practising cultural humility. However, mental health care is often not culturally sensitive and does not address the ways people experience multiple forms of discrimination – including xenophobia, sexism, classism, homophobia, islamophobia and antisemitism. This makes it all the more urgent that mental health services practise anti-racism.
The report calls for the universal adoption of anti-racism and trauma-informed approaches to mental health care, backed up by the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework. It says every integrated care board should ensure it is commissioning mental health support that meets the needs of racialised and marginalised communities, working in partnership with community organisations and patients themselves.
Andy Bell, chief executive at Centre for Mental Health, said: “Racial trauma is a root cause of mental ill health. Racism is one of the reasons why people from racialised communities in the UK experience higher rates of mental ill health and coercive treatment from mental health services. Recognising the importance of racial trauma and partnering with community organisations can help mental health services to offer better support and to heal rather than harm. It’s also vital for the many thousands of health and care workers whose lives are affected by racism and discrimination. We urge all mental health services to commit to anti-racist and trauma-informed approaches in all aspects of their work.”
Abdirahim Hassan, Founder of Coffee Afrik CIC said “This report makes one thing clear: trauma does not happen in isolation. For racialised communities in the UK, trauma is layered and shaped by racism, migration, poverty, policing, housing injustice and historical harm. Too often, our systems reproduce that trauma rather than repair it.
At Coffee Afrik CIC, we believe trauma-informed care must also be anti-racist, culturally grounded and community-led. Healing cannot happen in spaces that deny lived experience. Through our hubs and partnerships, we are building infrastructures of care rooted in dignity, listening and collective power.
This report is not just research; it is a call to action. If we are serious about equity, we must move beyond rhetoric and invest in community-led models that understand both harm and healing. Communities already hold the knowledge. The system must learn to listen.”
Professor Habib Naqvi, Chief Executive of RHO said: “While it is true that awareness of the concept of trauma and trauma-informed care has grown in recent years, our work has highlighted that this understanding is patchy and inconsistent. Nowhere is this more apparent than at the intersection between trauma and racism.
This country is at a crossroads when it comes to race relations. The past few years have seen a return of divisive racial tensions both on our streets and in mainstream political rhetoric. We need to be clear that the everyday experiences of racism and race inequity are a cause of psychological harm, and that this trauma can be compounded by feelings of dismissal or disbelief faced when accessing NHS services.
It’s essential that health services are co-produced and co-designed with communities to genuinely embed an understanding of race and racism, and the intersecting ways in which racialised communities experience trauma and treatment. A new kind of compassionate, trauma-informed care is needed and is possible. The simple act of listening to and understanding our diverse communities is the first step to arriving at that goal.”