Category Archives: equity

Balancing Faith and Care: Navigating Mental Health Challenges for Black Carers

Understanding the Role of Faith and Spirituality in Caregiving

Caregiving is often seen as an act of love and dedication, where individuals selflessly care for loved ones dealing with long-term physical or mental health issues. For many, the journey of caregiving can be particularly challenging, filled with emotional, physical, and psychological hurdles. However, one essential aspect often intertwined in this journey, especially for black carers, is faith and spirituality.

To watch the video lecture by Matthew McKenzie, click the video below

The Intersection of Faith, Spirituality, and Caregiving

Faith and spirituality can significantly influence those who are unpaid carers or caregivers, particularly within minority communities. Whether through organized religious beliefs, church communities, or personal spirituality, faith can provide strength, resilience, and coping mechanisms essential for caregivers.

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Race Equality Week 2025: Taking Action for a More Inclusive Society

In this blog, you can explore the significance of Race Equality Week 2025 and how every action counts in challenging racial disparities and promoting lasting change in workplaces, communities, and society as a whole.

Introduction

Welcome! This blog is inspired by a moving and compelling speech given by Matthew McKenzie, aimed at raising awareness on anti-racism, advocating for unpaid carers, and highlighting mental health issues. Matthew’s message resonates deeply, especially as it concludes Race Equality Week 2025, which was held from February 3rd to the 9th. The theme for this year is “Every Action Counts,” emphasizing that even the smallest actions can contribute to fostering a fairer and more inclusive society.

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Countering Trump-Inspired Rhetoric: Strategies for Combating Discrimination

In this latest blog by Matthew McKenzie, writes on how to counter the rise of hate speech, xenophobia, and discrimination inspired by Trump’s rhetoric. Here in the video and blog post, people can discover basic legal, educational, and community-based approaches to protect human rights and promote inclusivity.

The video has a more indepth lecture, but parts of the video had to be cut since it went on too long. The video also has an index so people can skip to specific parts.

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Understanding Health Inequity: Unveiling Discrimination in Mental Health Care

Hello everyone, I’m Matthew McKenzie, and in this blog I want to raise awareness about the various forms of discrimination and bias that unpaid carers, especially those looking after individuals suffering from mental illness or cancer, might encounter. Moreover, I am deeply involved in addressing racism and discrimination, sharing my firsthand knowledge of these issues, particularly in the mental health system.

In this article, we’ll dive into some of the crucial terminology that are essential for anyone working within healthcare settings, caring for people from minority groups, or even interacting as patients themselves.

In this blog, I’ll focus primarily on the acute settings within general hospitals. Most of these terms and definitions, however, are broadly applicable across the entire mental health system. We will go over around 12 to 13 key terms, highlighting their relevance and providing examples to illustrate how they manifest in healthcare contexts.

You can also watch the video lecture off my YouTube Channel.

Discrimination

Discrimination in healthcare involves treating individuals unfairly based on their race, ethnicity, or other characteristics. This unfair treatment leads to poor health outcomes for those affected.

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London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health:

Race Equity Maturity Index (REMI)

Welcome to another blog by Matthew McKenzie Carer activist. As a lived experienced member of the Race Equality Foundation. I am proud to present an exciting project that seeks to address the inequalities in health.

The London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH) have launched a new tool to help health and care organisations tackle systemic racial health inequalities.

The Race Equity Maturity Index (REMI) is the first framework of its kind, allowing organisations to track, measure and enhance their anti-racist activities using an evidence-based approach.

The REMI was designed with people and communities from across London, reflecting the diversity of both London’s population and its health and care workforce.

The REMI is intended to help all the parts of the health and care ecosystem meaningfully address the inequalities faced by Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic Londoners, which include:

Using the REMI, organisations can self-assess their progress in tackling these inequalities. The tool uses measurable indicators to categorise organisations into one of six stages of racial maturity, with clear pathways for progression between each stage.

The REMI can be downloaded on the LARCH website: https://anti-racism.london/index.php/race-equity-maturity-index/