- Conference
- 2016 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 24 September 2015
- Decision
- Carried
Conference is concerned that health services for the whole community are under sustained attack from wave after wave of austerity cuts. We know that Black communities take a disproportionate impact of these cuts
There is growing alarm at the impact of cuts to mental health services for vulnerable children and young people. A recent annual poll of head teachers The Key (2015) found 67% cited mental health as the top concern for the safety and wellbeing of children. It has grown from 14% last year.
Everyday life has a big impact on mental health, and Black communities in the UK are still more likely than others to experience problems such as bad housing, unemployment, stress and racism, all of which can make people ill.
Kathryn Hill of the Mental Health Foundation says many Black people don’t trust health services. “Lots of people won’t use health services until they’re very unwell because they’re frightened of what will happen. This means they’re more likely to be in worse health by the time they do seek help,” she says.
While mental illness is no more common in Africa or the Caribbean than it is in the UK as a whole, it is a bigger problem for African and African Caribbean communities living in the UK.
The charity Young Minds reported being deeply worried about chronic underfunding by the Coalition government which cut children’s mental health services year on year when it came into power. Spending on children’s mental health services fell by 6% since 2010, equivalent to £50 million. As a result children, frightened and suffering with acute mental health needs are locked up in police cells and treated on adult psychiatric wards because there are no appropriate services. Children’s mental health services are in national crisis with tragic consequences.
Nearly half the councils in England have frozen their budgets for children and young people 2011 – 2015. Young Minds refers to this as the ‘double whammy’ that vulnerable children face as both NHS and local authority services are cut. The biggest reduction was at Birmingham City Council, from just above £2.3m in 2010/11 to £125,000 in 2014/15, a drop of 94%. Now the first Conservative government for 26 years promises more of the same and worse as it imposes £20bn of cuts to services while handing out tax giveaways to the wealthiest.
Conference notes that there is a lack of services aimed specifically at the mental health and sexual health needs of LGBT children and young people, although there are examples of support that works.
Currently, at least two thirds of LGBT young people experience homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying at school, as do many who are not LGBT. Almost all regularly hear discriminatory language and one in five have experienced physical attack and/or sexual harassment, very few of whom report this. Few people learn about LGBT identities at school, with bisexual, trans and non-binary experiences being notably absent. This impacts upon wellbeing and educational performance, as well as contributing to attitudes within their families and whether young people feel able to come out, with 1 in 10 young people having to leave home due to lack of acceptance. Being Black and LGBT exacerbates the young person’s susceptibility to mental ill health in a climate where they are often isolated and estranged from their families.
Exploration of the results from the most recent schools survey conducted by Stonewall which asked 1,614 LGB young people aged 11 to 19 years to complete a survey about their experiences in school or college found that:
a)More than 3 in 4 (76%) Black gay and bisexual boys have thought about taking their own life compared to 56% of white gay and bisexual boys. 71% of lesbians and bisexual girls thought the same with no significant difference across ethnic background.
b)Over 8 in 10 (83%) Black lesbian and bisexual girls deliberately harm themselves compared to 71% of white lesbians and bisexual girls. 36% of gay and bisexual boys have self-harmed with no significant difference across ethnic background.
Overall the report highlighted the impact on Black LGBT youth of the stress that they experience in relation to their sexual orientation and gender identity as a consequence of rejection and discrimination.
Conference notes that:
There is a lack of sex and relationships education for support for all young LGBT people. Reports show that a whole generation of young gay and bisexual men are being failed. A recent survey (National AIDS Trust) found that at a time when HIV diagnoses among young gay and bisexual men 15-24 has doubled over the last 10 years, three quarters don’t receive any information about same sex relationships.
LGBT people will be safer if children do not grow up to be homophobic, biphobic or transphobic, whether actively or passively. LGBT people will experience fewer mental health problems if they are not bullied at school and if they and their peers learn that diverse sexualities and genders are valid. Access to services will be less problematic if staff and employers have learned about gender and sexual diversity and the specific needs of LGBT people.
Conference calls on the National Black Members Committee to:
1)Intensify campaigning about the impact of austerity cuts on mental health and sexual health services and support for Black and LGBT children and young people
2)Seek to put the issue of mental health and support services for Black and LGBT people, especially young people, at the heart of anti-austerity campaigns in regions and branches
3)Campaign for compulsory inclusive Sex and Relationships Education in schools across the UK, covering same sex relationships and HIV knowledge
4)Support and encourage branches and regions to link with and support organisations and local campaigns working to build LGBT mental health and sexual health services for children and young people
5)Work with the NEC, self-organised groups and young members groups, other trade union groups and the TUC and other appropriate organisations such as Schools Out! to highlight these issues.