Today (15 May 2026), the Government opened a call for evidence to inform a once-in-a-generation Mental Health Strategy to improve mental health care in England. The announcement marks a significant shift toward prevention and community-based intervention. To truly be a once-in-a-generation mental health policy intervention, an anti-racist approach must be front and centre.
Racial discrimination and racial disparities seen across housing, health, and education are detrimental to the mental wellbeing of Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities in the UK. Mental health does not decline in a vacuum. For a mental health strategy to effectively succeed, it cannot be “race blind”; iIt must acknowledge that for racialised communities, prevention requires the cross-departmental dismantling of the systemic racism which causes trauma throughout a life course. Additionally, we must safeguard against the services which are meant to help, reproducing trauma, by establishing anti-racist and trauma-informed practices. Dismantling the systems that produce harm, is a key component of effective prevention.
The announcement’s focus on whole-system approaches, such as the provision of community-based care via Early Support and Young Futures hubs, aligns with our own recommendations for non-clinical community based interventions, and is welcome. For success, the Government needs to go further and ensure Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprises (VCSEs) who are the most equipped to provide the culturally competent care needed, are empowered to do so. This requires, in addition to an invite to contribute to a consultation, genuine power-sharing across decision-making, design, implementation and evaluation. It also requires providing these organisations, which are critical to community infrastructure, with multi-year, sustainable investment.
Last but not least, we continue to call for systematic collection of disaggregated ethnicity data so we can identify structural racism and racial disparities, and design data-informed solutions to ensure equitable mental health care. Structural racism cannot be addressed if left unseen.
It is crucial that we seize this opportunity to design a mental health strategy which benefits everyone in England.
For media enquiries, please contact Lauren Golding at comms@racefound.org.uk
