Black History Month 2023 – it’s a wrap | News

To mark Black History Month across the North London Mental Partnership, we hosted a number of online and in-person events and celebrations across our sites as well as online events.

The month was an opportunity to celebrate the contributions of those with African and Caribbean heritage to British society. It also honoured the struggles and achievements of Black people from all periods internationally and fosters an understanding of the issues that they have faced and continue to face today.

This year’s theme was Saluting our Sisters with the aim of putting women in the spotlight because the accomplishments of black women have frequently been neglected or forgotten despite them being at the heart of social justice movements throughout history.

We kicked off the celebrations with a very special online event with Dame Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu who spoke about her journey in nursing, the NHS, and her work on sickle cell disease.

Along with this webinar, we ran four more online webinars with special guests including Felicia Kwaku OBE who spoke about making an impact, Delia Mills, who is recognised for her ground-breaking work for Staff Networks and Race Inequalities within the NHS, Nina Kuypers, who ran an online session on menopause and its impact on physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. To close the month, we had Margaret Greer, Unison National Officer - Race Equality who talked about her journey so far, the Unison Campaign ‘Year of Black Workers’, Black women in the workplace and navigating the ‘honeymoon’ period of a new job, and collective working.

Throughout October, we ran a number of in-person events and celebrations across different sites. Some of these events included:

• An afternoon celebration hosted by our CAMHS division which included experience sharing led by Ben Mensah, Managing Director.
• The Drayton Park Women's Crisis House celebrated the month at its black women’s forum. Over 30 women attended and wrote heartfelt messages on post-it notes to inspire each other.
• Our Network for Change and Better Together Network hosted two days of events at St Pancras Hospital and St Ann’s Hospital.
• On the final day of Black History Month, our Forensic Service had a lunchtime get together to celebrate the month’s achievements with staff, service users, carers, and allies.

Sisa Moyo, Director of North London Partnerships and Transformation at CAMHS, shared this lovely poem that she penned to salute our sisters across the Partnership:

History has not defined us
It has gifted us with who we are today
History has us bearing the mantle
It is one that is not a burden we cannot bear
History made us for such a time
We represent a Better Tomorrow
This is US Our History Made Us
I Salute You Sisters!