Reclaiming our Power is a lived experience-led project that supports adults from racialised communities and raises awareness of the mental health impact of racist microaggressions.
Through creative peer support workshops, delivered in partnership with artists with lived experience of racism and Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art, we explore themes of racism, microaggressions, and mental health.
Our workshops offer a safer space for participants to reflect on and process their experiences using creative mediums.
The artworks created will be showcased in the Gallery of Modern Art’s community exhibition space.
Recognising and preventing racist microaggressions - our online tool
Six volunteers from our creative workshops worked with us to co-develop a free, open-access online resource.
This tool is designed for professionals in education, healthcare, and transport and aims to equip them to recognise microaggressions, understand their mental health impact, and to take practical steps to prevent and respond to them.
We hope that by engaging with this resource, people will:
- have an increased understanding of racist microaggressions and tangible ways to tackle them
- use practical strategies and inclusive language to avoid racist microaggressions within service delivery.
Our goal is to build confidence and support public services professionals to embed anti-racist principles into their everyday practice.
Rooted in lived experience
To ensure Reclaiming our Power is rooted in lived experience, we work closely with the project's working group of six volunteers with experience of racism. We meet regularly to gather feedback and seek guidance on key project decisions and challenges.
Overall, Reclaiming our Power aims to:
- improve the mental wellbeing of people experiencing racial microaggressions, giving access to a safer space to build meaningful connections with other members of Glasgow’s diverse communities, share their experiences creatively, uplift one another, and to reduce feelings of isolation.
- reduce feelings of self-blame in people experiencing racial microaggressions, empowering them to build resilience against the impacts of racism and understand that racism is not their fault
- raise awareness of racial microaggressions in people delivering services, equipping them with the knowledge they need to embed an anti-racist approach in their organisation
- increase the confidence of organisations to deliver anti-racist practice, ultimately leading to greater racial equity in their service provision and a zero-tolerance approach to racial microaggressions and racism.
It was good to have the space to share our experiences, but more than that, it felt good to know that we were not just sharing for the sake of it, but doing it to identify solutions, raise awareness, and make change.
Get involved
Are you a public service professional interested in our learning sessions? Or would your group benefit from our creative workshops? We’d love to hear from you.
To find out more or get involved, please contact rburrell@mentalhealth.org.uk
Our online resource is designed to support public services professionals to embed anti-racist principles into their everyday practice.
Check out our free learning resource