Tag Archives: cultural humility

Gatekeeping Care – PCREF Poetry on Minority Ethnic Mental Health Carers

By Matthew McKenzie

My latest poetry video, “Gatekeeping Care,” explores the barriers minority ethnic unpaid carers can face when trying to navigate mental health services.

This is where unwritten rules, complicated medical language and unexplained carer rights can leave people struggling to understand how to obtain support.

Unpaid carers can also have their concerns not taken seriously.

The poem also reflects on what it feels like when decisions are made without carers and their cultural or religious beliefs are overlooked.

Through this poem, I want to raise awareness of why the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) matters to carers and families.

I feel mental health services must listen to carers, communicate clearly and recognise them as equal partners rather than leaving them feeling judged, invisible or powerless.

PCREF poem by Matthew McKenzie – Racial Inequality in Mental Health

What does racial inequality in mental health really look like from the perspective of an unpaid carer?

In this powerful spoken-word poem, Matthew McKenzie explores the realities of racism, bias, exclusion, stigma, and unequal treatment experienced by many ethnic communities when accessing mental health services.

Through an A–R alphabet structure, this poem highlights why the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) matters and why genuine cultural understanding, listening, and inclusion are essential to improving care.

This poem is part of my 200-poem PCREF collection, Unpaid, Unseen and Yet Unbroken, giving voice to the experiences of unpaid carers supporting relatives with mental illness while challenging racial inequalities across mental health services.