2 March 2026
Abdirahim Hassan, Doreen Joseph, Adetola Obateru, David Woodhead and Andy Bell
People from racialised communities face disproportionately high levels of trauma. This stems from experiences of historical trauma as a legacy of racism, slavery and segregation, and is compounded by the wearing effects of racial injustice in the present. Racism not only causes trauma but also prevents people from getting the right support for their mental health, as care often isn’t culturally sensitive and doesn’t address the discrimination people face.
To address this, the NHS Race and Health Observatory commissioned Centre for Mental Health and Coffee Afrik CIC to carry out a qualitative research project on trauma-informed care in racialised communities. The project’s key findings are that:
Trauma in racialised communities is widespread, interconnected, and rooted in racism
Public services often reproduce trauma rather than alleviate it
Trauma-informed care is inconsistently applied and rarely anti-racist
Community-led care is vital but underfunded.
Trauma-informed care and racialised communities makes the case for a new kind of trauma-informed care, one that appreciates not only the ways in which structural racism causes trauma but also considers the role our health care system can play in compounding or mitigating that trauma. Trauma-informed approaches cannot be implemented in a one-size-fits-all manner, as they need to consider the specific histories, cultures and identities of the people they serve, acknowledging and addressing the intersecting forms of oppression people may face.
The report calls for trauma-informed approaches that are culturally sensitive and responsive to the needs of people from racialised communities, rooted in a human rights perspective, cultural humility and collaborative partnership. It recommends the universal adoption of anti-racist and trauma-informed approaches to mental health care, backed up by the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework.
We are grateful to all the research participants who attended focus groups and one-to-one interviews and spoke openly about trauma and trauma-informed care in racialised communities, whose perspectives were essential to the report’s findings and recommendations.
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