Equity, Diversity,
Inclusion and Equality (EDIE)
Strategy 2021
Contents
Why Equity, Diversity,
Inclusion and Equality matter to Oxfordshire Mind
Who are we at Oxfordshire Mind?
What do equity, diversity,
inclusion and equality mean to us?
At Oxfordshire
Mind, our vision is that:
We
won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem
gets
both support and respect.
Inequality and
discrimination in any form significantly affect people’s mental
health, their ability to access mental health support, the quality of
support given, and the very decision to reach out for help. Addressing
questions of equity, diversity, inclusion and
equality (EDIE) are therefore key to realising our vision.
EDIE is everyone’s business at Oxfordshire Mind,
and our strategy sets out how we will work together across the organisation to
respect and reflect the diversity of the communities we seek to serve. We are
committed to understanding the make-up of our service users, paid and volunteer
workforce, and then addressing our practices and approaches where necessary to
ensure we are a fair and inclusive organisation.
Thank you for taking the time to read our EDIE
strategy and thank you if you participated in the conversations or completed a
survey that shaped it. If you would like to share your thoughts, we’re always
happy to hear from you. Please email us: edie@oxfordshiremind.org.uk
With
best wishes,
Dan
Knowles, Nick
Welch,
Chief
Executive Officer Chair
of the Board of Trustees
This strategy has been
developed in the context of two global events which shone a spotlight on
inequalities. The COVID-19 pandemic has hit poorer and more marginalised
communities hardest. The indirect effects have included bereavement, the stresses
of lockdown, financial strain and health anxieties – all adding to mental
health risk, but impacting more heavily on some
sections of society than others, including those who were facing mental health
challenges prior to the pandemic. The murder of George Floyd was a shocking and
stark reminder of the impact of systemic racism. His death triggered a global
reassessment of the need to renew commitments to addressing prejudice and
unfair treatment.
Oxfordshire Mind is an
independent charity which is part of the Mind Federation. In setting our EDIE
priorities, we have reviewed evidence collated by National Mind as part of its
Equalities and Human Rights work. Locally, we have then followed two broad
lines of enquiry:
-
Who
are we at Oxfordshire Mind?
-
What
do equity, diversity, inclusion and equality mean to
us?
Our approach and EDIE vision at Oxfordshire Mind is that:
We won’t give up on striving to be an
ever-fairer, more inclusive organisation for those we serve and those we work
with. This is because we believe that everyone deserves respect and to be
valued equally, whatever their identity and story.
Our approach is framed by six strategic
aims.
1. We will be open and
transparent about our approach to challenging inequity in
access to, experience and outcomes of mental health support, positively
inviting challenge to develop our thinking and learning.
2. We will take an evidence-based
approach to setting our priorities and tracking our progress towards
becoming an ever more representative organisation, reflecting the communities
we serve through our staff, volunteer, trustee, and service user make up
3. We will develop our Human
Resources (HR), Volunteering and Trustee Recruitment processes to attract
and retain more diverse talent, continuing to monitor access to
pay and progression opportunities so we can address any inequalities
within our organisation.
4. We will equip our
workforce with the skills, capabilities and support to
advance equity, diversity, inclusion and equality.
5. Our services will be co-designed,
co-developed and monitored to reflect the diversity of communities we
aim to support.
6. We will offer and promote
services in inclusive ways.
Equality and
Equity: The terms equality and equity are often used interchangeably to
mean fairness. They are terms about ensuring each person has fair access to
opportunities and that bias (discriminatory behaviours and actions we are both
aware and unaware of) does not get in the way of fair treatment.
Often, equality has come to be understood as
treating people the same regardless of their differences. This is a
simple way of expressing the importance of addressing direct discrimination.
Discrimination may also be indirect, however, and less obvious. Equity is a term which has a
clearer focus on treating people fairly, and this may mean changing the
approach dependent on the needs of the individual.
Diversity:
Diversity means recognising, respecting and valuing
each other’s differences. It highlights that there is no monolithic
experience – e.g. if two people share the same
ethnicity, it does not mean that their experience of life will be similar or
the same. Respecting diversity therefore challenges tokenism as it acknowledges
that one person cannot be the sole spokesperson for a particular demographic.
Diversity recognises that everyone is unique and that nobody is a stereotype.
Empowerment: If
you empower someone, you give power to them. For example, you support
their voice being heard and give them the opportunity and freedom to create
change for themselves. Very often the power we give people was already
rightfully theirs to begin with!
Inclusion:
Inclusion means taking into consideration and truly valuing everyone in the
choices we make. We get closer to achieving more inclusive outcomes when we
acknowledge and challenge our biases. Inclusion is also about making sure that
everyone can equally take part and be involved, regardless of additional support
they may need or any accessibility needs they have.
Intersectionality: recognising
everyone’s identity is influenced by many different factors in differing ways –
in short, that people are more than just one part of their identity! This means
that we should never assume that people’s identities or experiences are exactly the same or that people sharing one experience all
want the same type of support. It also means that when we help a community,
we’re actually helping people with multiple experiences e.g.
an LGBTQ+ group may also be supporting people with disabilities, people from
different ethnic backgrounds and of different ages, so it’s important to think
about people from multiple perspectives and to always give people the
opportunity to define themselves and share their own stories. Like diversity,
intersectionality is a concept which helps to avoid stereotyping people and
reminds us that everyone is unique.
Protected characteristics: It
is against the law to discriminate against someone because of their age,
disability, gender reassignment, marital/ civil partnership status, pregnancy
or maternity status, race, religion or belief, sex or
sexual orientation. These aspects of identity are called the nine protected
characteristics. Further information can be found in the Equality Act (2010).
Tokenism: making
a symbolic gesture/action which may give the appearance of promoting equity but
is not grounded in achievable plans for lasting change.
We know
from decades of research that discrimination in any form negatively impacts
people’s mental health. In addition, the impact of
discrimination has a domino effect on those indirectly affected by it, reducing
the health and wellbeing of society as a whole.
Mental
ill health is directly linked to wider health inequalities globally. People
with severe mental disorders on average tend to die earlier than the general
population. The World Health Organisation reports that there is a life
expectancy reduction (premature mortality rate) of 10 to 25 years in patients
with severe mental disorders (WHO, accessed December 2021).
As a
mental health charity, we therefore have a responsibility to address equity,
diversity, inclusion and equality (EDIE) in our work.
This is to ensure that the people we serve receive good mental health support,
and that those working for our organisation - whether in a paid capacity or
giving of their time voluntarily - have an environment in which they feel safe,
confident to be themselves, and valued.
EDIE priorities at
National Mind
National Mind has
highlighted the impact of systemic racism on mental health support, which
results in disproportionate diagnoses, hospital admissions and poor treatment
and outcomes for racialised communities in the UK. National Mind has made a
commitment to becoming a truly anti-racist organisation as a pivotal part of
its strategy, with objectives planned through to 2024.
Alongside its
anti-racism commitment, National Mind has also pledged to focus on tackling
mental health injustices caused by poverty and faced by people who identify as
LGBTIQ or autistic.
The murder of George
Floyd
Following
the devastating murder of George Floyd on 28th May 2020, there
were acknowledgements across the globe of the need to improve equity,
diversity, inclusion, and equality across different industries, including the
charity sector, acknowledging the existence of systemic racism and unconscious
bias as prevalent factors in preventing fair and equal access to support and
services.
Locally, the county of
Oxfordshire and the city of Oxford made commitments to become areas of
anti-racism, and the Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership (OMHP), of which
Oxfordshire Mind is a member, has also made a commitment to improve equity,
diversity, inclusion, and equality, acknowledging that not enough has been done
in these fields.
“Whether
deliberately or subconsciously we have furthered feelings of exclusion and
otherness, and this must stop.” (Lesley Dewhurst, Chair of the OMHP, 2020).
The COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 global
pandemic shone a spotlight on inequalities in the UK and elsewhere, with the
poorest and most marginalised experiencing further suffering and greater loss
of life. This was often the result of living and working conditions which
increased the risk of contracting the virus, and poorer health outcomes for
those who became infected.
Measures taken to
reduce the spread of COVID-19 in England meant that access to paid work, to
services and to people’s various community networks were limited in many ways
from March 2020. The impact of this has often been felt more keenly by those
already living on lower incomes, leading to higher need to access resources
such as food banks and health services, including mental health services.
The impact of COVID-19
also demonstrated the need for significant improvements in all sectors to
support people with disabilities and long-term health conditions, as well as
older people who are at greater risk of deterioration of health and loss of
ability. Both the risks from COVID-19 itself, and the restrictions on contact
imposed to reduce the spread of the virus, were greater for people with certain
long term health conditions as well as those aged 70 or over. This in turn
increased the strain on people’s mental health and emotional resilience.
Reports looking
through intersectionality lenses highlight that racialised communities have often
been most adversely affected, with the impact on mental and physical health
being even greater due to various factors of social and economic injustice.
National policy
developments
In September 2020, NHS
England and NHS Improvement published their Advancing Mental Health
Equalities Strategy, both an acknowledgement of and a
response to the inequalities highlighted by recent global events. This sets out
commitments to supporting local health systems to address inequalities in
access, experience and outcomes of mental healthcare.
In the summer of 2021,
the UK Government affirmed its commitment to reforming the Mental Health Act
(1983), building on the 2018 Independent Review. This recognises the need for
change in order
to deliver a mental health service that respects and empowers
individuals. The Government acknowledges disparities in how the 1983 Act has affected
people from racialised communities. National Mind has welcomed the
announcement, but also highlighted the need to, “address the systemic racism that
results in disproportionate detentions and the use of humiliating and
life-threatening practices among people from certain racialised communities.”
Oxfordshire Mind’s
commitment
In 2020, Oxfordshire
Mind’s Board and Senior Management Team approved the creation of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Project Lead role, in order to
better support the organisation in achieving its mission. This role was made
permanent and renamed as Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Equality Lead in
September 2021, demonstrating a lasting commitment to progressing Oxfordshire
Mind’s EDIE journey.
At Oxfordshire Mind, we aim to reflect the diversity of the
communities we seek to serve. In 2021, the majority of
our work is based in Oxfordshire, and so we have tried to compare our staff,
volunteer and service user make up with the population of Oxfordshire as a
whole.
Paid workforce
· Our
workforce is relatively young, with a median age of 34, and we will continue to
monitor whether this indicates any barriers to older workers joining us.
· Our workforce largely identifies as female (78%)
indicating those of other gender identities are under-represented, which is
quite common in the charity sector.
·
The proportion of staff who identify
as White (88%) is greater than that of Oxfordshire as a whole (83% White
British), indicating that people from ethnic backgrounds other
than White are under-represented in our workforce.
We will continue to monitor our
staff profile across other aspects of identity, including the protected
characteristics defined in the Equality Act (2010). Caution will need to be
exercised in interpreting patterns from small data sets, however, and we will
not publish or share data which could identify individuals.
As well as absolute numbers within
our workforce representing different aspects of identify, we also recognise the
need to look out for and address disparities in pay and progression, and this
will be part of our ongoing plans.
Volunteers
Significant steps have been taken to
diversify our Board following a successful recruitment campaign in 2020. Given
the small number of trustees, however, it would be inappropriate to publish a
demographic breakdown as this would identify individuals.
We have insufficient data to be able
to draw firm conclusions about the wider volunteer demographic profile at
Oxfordshire Mind at this time. However, this is something which is being
developed and explored.
Service
users
There are some ways in which we should expect our service user
group not to be representative of the general population. Rather, we would aim
for over-representation of groups which we know experience higher levels of
mental health risk, and we will consider pro-actively targeting these groups.
·
Older people seem to be
under-represented in our services, particularly the over 65s (7%
of the total, compared to 12% in Oxford City and 20% in rural Oxfordshire), but
we recognise that recent trends have shown a greater prevalence of mental ill
health amongst younger people.
· Around
60% of our service users identify
as female. Those who identify other than as female appear to be
under-represented, but some of this seems to be in line with recent national
data on gender disparities in mental health need.
·
90% of service users identify as White,
whilst the proportion of Oxfordshire’s population recorded as White British is
83%. This indicates that people from ethnic backgrounds other than
White are under-represented, and this is a priority for us to address given
recent reports on greater mental health need amongst people from Black and
Minority Ethnic backgrounds, particularly in the aftermath of the COVID-19
pandemic.
There are other sections of the population which we know face
particular risks to their mental health, where it is less clear is how well-represented they are within our services. This may be
because of small numbers, e.g. asylum seekers and
refugees; limited local comparator data, e.g. the LGBT+ population; or varying definitions,
e.g. carers. Due to the additional mental health risks that these groups face,
it is important for us to conduct further research, going beyond simple
statistics, to explore the extent to which these groups use our services and
feel that their needs are met.
Our
staff members
81
staff members completed our 2021 EDIE survey
·
EDIE issues are very important
to our staff, who want the organisation to speak up publicly about these issues
too.
·
Almost two thirds of staff
members who completed our EDIE survey feel they would benefit from further EDIE
training. Individual workloads need to be addressed to allow staff members to
further their outreach work and continue their EDIE learning and development,
however.
·
We need to build confidence and
trust across the organisation to empower more staff members to engage in
challenging discussions around EDIE topics.
·
More
staff report they would feel confident to report an EDIE concern than know how
to do so, indicating that there is work to be done in promoting our policies
around reporting discrimination.
·
More
than three-quarters of staff have not seen colleagues treated unfairly due to
an aspect of their identity. However, it is a source of great concern that 18%
of respondents to the staff survey had seen this.
·
Overwhelmingly, staff feel
confident to ‘be who they are’ within their team. Confidence levels are less
strong at an organisation-wide level, but this may be a
reflection of less familiarity with other colleagues.
· Most of our staff members feel
Oxfordshire Mind meets their workplace needs and would recommend us as a place
to work to people they care about. The majority feel their work is evaluated
fairly, but there is a significant minority which have concerns about fair pay,
and this needs to be explored.
Our
volunteers and trustees
We had 22 respondents to our 2021
EDIE survey. Respondents were an unknown combination of volunteers and trustees.
·
All of the volunteers and trustees who completed our EDIE
survey agreed that being involved with an organisation that is
equal, diverse and inclusive is important to them, and around half
think that Oxfordshire Mind should speak up publicly on matters of
discrimination and social injustice.
·
Volunteer
and trustee experiences at Oxfordshire Mind seem to be largely very positive in
terms of belonging, empowerment, and fair opportunities to develop.
·
The
majority of survey
respondents would recommend Oxfordshire Mind as a place to volunteer.
·
Volunteers
and trustees appear to be less aware of the organisation’s position, policies
and processes around EDIE matters than our staff, though many feel confident
speaking up if someone says something they feel is not okay and would feel
confident to report a concern if they had one.
Our
service users
31
service users completed our 2021 EDIE survey.
·
Equal, diverse
and inclusive services are important to the majority of our service users, and
most who responded to the EDIE survey want the organisation to speak up publicly about matters
of discrimination and social injustice.
·
More than half of survey respondents
indicated that experiences of discrimination had affected their mental health.
·
Most service users feel that
Oxfordshire Mind provides a safe environment for people to express their ideas
and beliefs freely, and to be who they are.
·
The
majority of
service users who responded to our survey would feel confident recommending
Oxfordshire Mind to people they care about if they needed mental health
support.
·
Some
of our service users often feel like they are ‘the only one’ at Oxfordshire
Mind.
·
Survey
responses suggest that people need more choice around when they access services.
·
Many
service users appear to be unfamiliar with the organisation’s policies and
processes regarding EDIE matters
but would feel confident to raise a concern.
These
findings led to the creation of our six strategic aims:
1.
We
will be open and transparent about our approach to
challenging inequity in access to, experience and outcomes of mental
health support, positively inviting challenge to develop our thinking and
learning.
2.
We
will take an evidence-based approach to setting our priorities and
tracking our progress towards becoming an ever more representative
organisation, reflecting the communities we serve through our staff, volunteer,
trustee, and service user make up
3.
We
will develop our Human Resources (HR), Volunteering and Trustee Recruitment
processes to attract and retain more diverse talent, continuing
to monitor access to pay and progression opportunities so we can
address any inequalities within our organisation.
4.
We
will equip our workforce with the skills, capabilities
and support to advance equity, diversity, inclusion and equality.
5.
Our
services will be co-designed, co-developed and monitored to reflect the
diversity of communities we aim to support.
6.
We
will offer and promote services in inclusive ways.
If you would like to
know more about how we have developed this strategy, or if you would like to
share your views and ideas with us, we’d be delighted to hear from you.
Please email: edie@oxfordshiremind.org.uk
This strategy will be supported by an Action plan setting out the
detailed actions we will take to achieve our strategic aims. We will monitor
this Action plan through our staff EDIE Action Group and ensure routine opportunities
for feedback from staff, service users and volunteers. This feedback will shape
annual revisions of our Action plan. Thank you for taking
the time to read our EDIE strategy and if you participated in any way in the
work that shaped it.