Starting meaningful conversations about racism and inequality can be challenging, especially if you have not experienced prejudice yourself.
Experiences of racism and inequality can also take their toll on your mental health and wellbeing, and a culture of silence around these important issues only increases the damaging impact.
Here are some resources to help you broaden your understanding about racism and inequality, and some useful mental health resources, including specialist support for people from a BAME background.
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Here are our Diversity Team's top picks for books to help you develop your understanding of the issues of racism and inequality in society and feel confident in having challenging conversations about tackling prejudice and inequality:
When tragedies occur, White people who want to help and mean well often go straight to the affected people in their life and ask for guidance. While this might seem sensible to ask those with first-hand knowledge how to help, it's actually asking them for free labour. There are plenty of resources you can use to educate yourself. Do the work, and then come to the fight for racial equality armed with the knowledge to make a difference.
Experiencing racism and inequality can take a significant toll on your mental health and wellbeing, and the scale of the challenges around racism and inequality can seem overwhelming. People from a BAME background also experience structural barriers to accessing support for their mental health and suffer from the lack of specialist support available. Here are some resources providing specialist support around mental health for people from a BAME background:
1. Black Minds Matter UK - www.blackmindsmatteruk.com
2. The Black, African & Asian Therapy Network (BAATN) - www.baatn.org.uk
3. MIND - www.mind.org.uk
We believe in good Health and Mental Well-being, this is why all Liberal Democrats have access to the Health Assured Support Helpline at 0800 028 0199, for more information please visit 'Support for Members' section of our website.
You can find our guidance on creating a diverse and inclusive local party here.
You can find our latest briefings on upcoming diversity days, our accessible events checklist and diverse and inclusive graphics here.
If there are other resources that you would find useful, you can let us know by emailing the Diversity Team at diversity@libdems.org.uk.