8 minute read
YOUR HISTORY
Black History month spotlights the contribution black people have made to history and brought about change. MC magazine’s Rachel Robinson spoke exclusively to a mental health nurse striving to do the same.
There’s calmness about Salome Mare Walsh that radiates. She’s gentle, quietly spoken and reassuring in her manner. You can see why she would be ideal to support someone experiencing a mental health crisis.
Nursing is Salome’s passion. She’s equally passionate about changing the lives of people whose skin, like hers, is not white. She’s starting in the workplace, where she says there’s still discrimination, but also a fast growing readiness to embrace change and, all, importantly, turn it into action. And that excites her.
“The network was introduced because there was a disproportionate number of ethnic minority staff going through disciplinaries, or suspensions, yet we make up less than a tenth of Mersey Care’s workforce. Anyone can have disputes but you shouldn’t have to feel if you speak up, that you’ll be discriminated against because of your race. I wanted to make it equitable, to give people a forum to share their experiences and issues, influence and drive change.”
One of those issues is feeling like you don’t fit in. “I’ve known black people try to straighten their hair so they’ll feel part of a team. When colleagues touch your hair, you wonder if it’s to see how black hair feels. It’s therapeutic for them but it’s invading my personal space.
“A colleague was told her hair felt like pubic hair. Every day we live with this and worse. I know of instances where patients won’t allow a black nurse to touch them.”
Salome is frustrated that the diverse needs of different ethnic minority staff members and patients will struggle to be met - the term BAME ‘lumps people together who may not see themselves as the same.’
“I’ve started to think the term doesn’t fit everybody, or feel good enough for the many different people it covers. Black people are different to Asian people, Chinese people; they have very different beliefs and cultures. It separates people based on looks and race.
“I prefer the term people of colour; it takes away from a ranking system. Maybe we shouldn’t have a term at all. We should definitely keep talking about it.”
HOW DOES SHE FEEL ABOUT BLACK HISTORY MONTH? IS IT, AS SOME SAY, TOKENISTIC?
“I can see why people may say that, it’s seasonal, they might ask why we need to have it at all, but there have been so many amazing contributions throughout history to science, medicine, and engineering, from black people yet we’re not told about them.
Caesarean sections were performed in Africa way before medicines were introduced. It’s important we know about them, they’re shaping all our futures.”
Does this year’s celebration feel different because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on BAME communities, and the Black Lives Matter movement?
“Yes it does. They’ve focussed people’s minds and highlighted the different struggles we face, not just sometimes but every day. The pandemic has hit minority ethnic communities hard. Black Lives Matter makes me emotional. It has taken a lot of courage by people who are fighting so hard just to be on the same starting line as everyone else.”
Salome talks animatedly of developments within the BAME network and in Mersey Care.
“Mersey Care has a duty to support its BAME workforce; it’s in the NHS People’s Plan. The Trust has always supported us, but now we feel we have allies giving us a platform. We’re at the table steering, giving advice, and helping them see it through our eyes. We’re driving this with passion and relishing the chance to do more.
WHAT’S CHANGED ON THE GROUND?
“One of the most important differences is that the board has got involved. We’ve attended their meetings; Joe (Rafferty, Chief Executive) has been to our meetings; Beatrice (Fraenkel, Chairman) introduced our Black History Month celebrations.
“When we realised the pandemic was hitting BAME staff hard, we started looking for ways to safeguard those staff against COVID-19. The Trust is listening to our concerns. There’s a will to do the right thing and we need to keep the focus on that.
“We suggested training for managers so they could understand the worries of BAME staff about passing the virus to their families. It’s a work in progress, change takes time, but we can’t change things without senior leaders coming on board and that’s happening.”
DOES DISCRIMINATION STILL EXIST?
“It does, and that’s what motivates me. The worst thing is to love your job but not feel supported to do it. But staff are noticing that things are changing, they see that there are people they can go to for support.
“If Mersey Care as an employer, and we as peers are accepting of everybody it changes the team spirit. It promotes that feeling of camaraderie, of feeling safe in that environment.
“It impacts on service users too. Patients pick up on how we treat each other. If we feel comfortable at work, where it’s not about race, it’s about inclusion, that translates into the spirit of the team and the culture of the Trust. It can only improve the care patients receive.
AND THE FUTURE?
“I’d love to see black and minority ethnic people represented at all levels – people in senior positions; on interview panels and on the board. I have children, I want BAME kids to know that this is a job they could do.
“I’d like to think that our work would carry on if I or my colleagues left the Trust. There’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s going in the right direction – and I think we’re going to get there.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE THIS BLACK HISTORY MONTH TO ACHIEVE?
“Looking at the past helps us understand how we got to the present and starts us thinking about how we want the future to be. Knowing our history is what brings about more change, we need to embrace it”.
Salome Mare-Walsh, mental health nurse
IT’S TIME TO CONNECT
Before this year my hope for Black History Month would have been to celebrate, share stories and put people’s experience of being from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic group, as part of our wider culture.
Amanda Oates, Executive Director of Workforce
Now, with the connection to those groups we’ve experienced through the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, I’d hope we could all see things through a different lens and choose to learn and connect with what’s happening in our locality and across the country.
If I’m honest, since I’ve been working more closely with my colleagues from the Trust’s Black Asian Minority Ethnic network, I’ve been enlightened by the sheer diversity of thought, experience and opinion.
A year ago I’d have probably said that it’s really important we look at institutionalised racism and systems and processes that disadvantage people – and at Mersey Care we’re doing that.
Now I’d say I made assumptions, spoke to too few people. I’d say I don’t know as much as I thought I did. But I’m now consciously aware of my gaps in knowledge and I’m trying hard to listen and learn more about people’s very individual experiences.
HOW IS THE ROLE OF THE NETWORK CHANGING?
They’re really driving and influencing developments. They have the autonomy and power to act and influence. We’ve asked them to challenge the status quo and tell us what they need and make suggestions.
For example, the BAME network has colleagues reviewing our recruitment policy and practices.
We meet with the network chair and vice chair as a board and individually, and managers are providing network members with dedicated time out from their job roles to support the network.
It means we’re working side by side and collaboratively. It’s supporting our belief that some people have been disadvantaged here; there have been disparities and it’s time to level up the playing field.
It’s not just in the workplace, it’s in society. There are challenges that people may not have even considered. For example finding a card in a shop with someone with black skin, or wearing a hijab on the front is almost impossible. Plasters and tights, even prosthetic limbs are more accessible for pale skin coloured people. How must that feel, being denied the expectation to source what you need?
If we are really going to enact change, we have to get all those unaffected by racism, or any form of discrimination or disrespect, feeling outraged enough to support those who are. We’re not there yet, but we’re starting to be more connected.
HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THIS IN MERSEY CARE?
We want more BAME staff at every level across the whole Trust. It’s easy to say, but we have to make it happen, so we’ve recently set targets at our Trust Board to make sure it does. We’re looking at how to attract BAME staff and challenge situations within the organisation that may not feel right.
Is discrimination still going on? “I’m sure it is. People still behave disrespectfully, that’s why our Civility and Respect campaign is so important. The bystander role is crucial; to speak out if you see or hear something and ensure staff are supported appropriately.
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOOK BACK ON AND SEE?
As with all our staff, I’d like to see our black staff and those from other minority ethnic groups say ‘I feel I belong at Mersey Care’. Diversity isn’t enough. We can have a diverse workforce, we may be representative and include them by involving them and engaging; belonging though is different. You don’t need to be asked, or included. You just feel that you belong and feel comfortable to truly be yourself.
