Race, Culture & Social Equalities in Mental Health with Hári Sewell

Behind the Stigma

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In this episode of Behind the Stigma, host Seiara Imanova speaks with Hari Sewell, founder and Director of HS Consultancy, about the intersection of social justice, ethnicity, and mental health.
Hari, a leading voice on institutional racism and unconscious biases in mental health, shares his insights on the systemic factors contributing to racial disparities, the impact of social perspectives on patient outcomes, and the importance of addressing these issues in practice. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on how we can foster more equitable mental health care.
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About Hari Sewell
Hári is the founder and Director of HS Consultancy and a former executive director of health and social care in the National Health Service in the UK. He has worked for the Department of Health in regulation and policy, and is a writer and speaker in his specialist area of social justice, equalities and ethnicity, race and culture in mental health.
Hári is a Specialist Guest Lecturer at the University of Bradford and Visiting Lecturer at Christ Church Canterbury University. Hári worked with another local campaigner to secure services for survivors of sexual violence and currently runs a campaign “Men Supporting Women’s Rights” including “Men Against Rape”. He is increasingly studying forms of masculinity and the possibilities in practice and employee relations to recognise the intersections between masculinity and other aspects of identity. I’m delighted to speak with him.
Website: https://www.hsconsultancy.org.uk/about/
Twitter: https://x.com/consultancy_hs?lang=en
Working with Ethnicity, Race & Culture in Mental Health: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Ethnicity-Culture-Mental-Health/dp/1843106213
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Chapter

1. Race, Culture & Social Equalities in Mental Health with Hári Sewell (00:00:00)

2. Introduction to Hari Sewell (00:00:28)

3. What motivated you to dedicate your work to social justice, ethnicity and culture in mental health? (00:01:54)

4. What is institutionalized racism? And what would that look like? (00:04:20)

5. We think the Western way is the right now (00:11:00)

6. Psychiatric Imperialism (00:15:24)

7. Hari's experience with unconscious bias (00:18:35)

8. Black people are more likely to be detained than white people! (00:24:28)

9. It's not policy or government, but the everyday people who will make change (00:34:09)

10. Founding HS Consultancy (00:40:10)

11. Advice to mental health practioners - how can we make the system better? (00:50:11)