Overcoming anxiety & harassment for black and brown healthcare professionals

Mental Health Awareness Week

As we approach mental health awareness week and the official theme for 2023's Mental Health Awareness Week is?anxiety. ?

And, yes I would agree we all feel anxious from time to time!?

In an environment packed with long work days, a demanding pace, time pressures, and emotional intensity.

Physicians and other healthcare professionals are at high risk of anxiety and burnout.

Additionally, the healthcare system can be challenging to navigate with administrative burdens and limited resources.

According, to the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES), healthcare professionals of colour face various challenges due to racial disparities in the UK healthcare system.

The percentage of black and brown healthcare professionals experiencing harassment, bullying and abuse from patients, relatives and the public has increased.

This often leads to feelings of frustration, exhaustion and reduced job satisfaction, including harassment.

Just 44.4% of NHS staff believe their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.

This report shows there is much to do to improve the experience of Black and brown colleagues to eradicate racism.

Hence, why we will be focusing on empowering Black and Brown healthcare professionals during #mentalhealthawarenessweek .

4 key challenges for black & brown healthcare professionals

Black and brown healthcare professionals face several challenges in the profession, not just career progression and promotion.

These challenges perpetuate other disparities across the healthcare system, for example;

1. One of the significant challenges faced with discrimination or racial bias from colleagues and patients. Even though they are medical professionals, they still experience medical mistrust due to their racial identity, which can affect their patient's care
2. Another challenge is the limited access to quality medical care for their community, which can lead to worse health outcomes.?Early in the pandemic black people were four times as likely to die from coronavirus. Highlighting some of these race inequalities across healthcare
3. People of colour also have higher rates of ill-health, including heart disease, diabetes, and kidney disease, not to mention maternal health which is all just too heartbreaking
4. Additionally, they may also face challenges related to social determinants of health, such as poverty, income inequality, food insecurity, and the lack of safe, affordable housing.?

Our aim is black and brown healthcare professionals will leave the session with some resources to deal with this level of anxiety or harassment.

Empowering black & brown healthcare professionals

Burnout is a long-term stress reaction marked by emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and a lack of sense of personal accomplishment.

We understand the importance of feeling heard and supported, which is why we're here to provide valuable resources and support

"We want to provide a safe space for black and brown healthcare colleagues to share stories and lived experiences, provide resources and support those experiencing anxiety related stress" Blu Reynolds, Change Lead

At the same time, we will keep up the pressure to demand change and to increase the awareness and understanding of our colleagues and allies.?

Join us here for our safe space conversation on "Overcoming Anxiety and Harassment in the Workplace", where you can share your experiences and learn effective coping strategies.?

Let's work together to create a safe and inclusive workplace for black & brown healthcare professionals.

Giving 110% of yourself for very little returns!

Bitesize weekly content! We hope you have enjoyed it. See you next week x

PS If you want to hang out.?Kinship is a Safe Space for Diverse Women. First Friday of every month. Allies are welcome!?Please register?here ?