Catalyst Psychology Anti-Racism Mission Statement

Created March 2022.  

OUR MISSION

HELP develop anti-racist practices within our organisation which we hope to communicate to schools and the wider community in a sensitive and supportive manner.

BY understanding the lived experiences of people of colour* and the structural inequalities existing in society. We will think about our actions, language and engagement with psychological and systemic thinking.

TO provide a safe environment for people of colour which promotes understanding, acceptance and being listened to in a way that is meaningful and genuine.

OUR OBJECTIVES

To raise our awareness and understanding of the lived experiences of people of colour in the UK using psychological and systemic theory

To open discussions about racialisation** that are meaningful and safe for all communities

To (re)consider our own positioning in the discussions of racialisation when engaging with terms such as prejudice, white privilege***, microaggressions and unconscious bias when working with children, families and schools. We will explore what these terms mean to us, how to operationalise them and be mindful that our partners/stakeholders may be on different journeys in exploring anti racist work .

To work towards action in supporting localised and minoritized communities through our assessments and interventions with young people, families and schools.

FOOTNOTES:

*A note on language terminology – we are mindful that people have different ways of identifying themselves and ways they prefer to be described. Here we use the term people of colour to describe people who self-identify as existing within an ethnic minoritized group/community.

**Racialisation refers to the social construction of ‘race’ that moves beyond biological accounts towards social constructions and embodiment of what it means to be living as a person of colour to incorporate multiple facets of life. Appreciating that there are multiple versions and constructions for ‘people of colour’

***Microaggressions - Subtle, unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalised group

White privilege - An institutional set of benefits granted to those of who, by race, resemble the people who dominate the powerful positions in our institutions (Robin, 2018)

Unconscious bias - Attitudes and beliefs that we hold outside of our conscious awareness and these views may be informed by historical, cultural and /or economic factors of the time