A new report has revealed that people from racialised communities face disproportionately high levels of trauma – and that the public services designed to support them often reinforce that trauma rather than alleviate it.
The report, produced by Centre for Mental Health and Coffee Afrik CIC, and commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, highlights how racism contributes directly to trauma, mental illness, and barriers to receiving appropriate mental health support.
The report underscores that individuals from racialised communities experience trauma across multiple dimensions, including:
- Historical trauma linked to racism, slavery, colonialism and segregation
- Ongoing racial injustice in the present day
- Major national events such as the Windrush scandal, which caused profound psychological and material harm
- Continued experiences of discrimination and exclusion under hostile environment policies
These cumulative experiences shape people’s wellbeing, sense of identity, self‑worth, educational attainment and overall life opportunities.
The report finds that interactions with key services — healthcare, policing, housing and social care – frequently make racial trauma worse. Many people describe feeling unsafe, judged or dismissed in clinical settings, experiencing discriminatory treatment or structural barriers, and being retraumatised by systems that fail to acknowledge racism’s impact.
It also notes that overt racism is becoming more common, normalised in part by divisive narratives from figures in positions of power.
While mental health services have the potential to help heal racial trauma, the report finds they are often not culturally sensitive, ill‑equipped to address trauma rooted in racism, and limited in addressing the overlapping discriminations people face, including xenophobia, sexism, classism, homophobia, islamophobia and antisemitism.
The report calls for mental health services to embed cultural humility and anti‑racism at every level – from clinical practice to organisational leadership.
Andy Bell, Chief Executive at Centre for Mental Health, commented:
“Racial trauma is a root cause of mental ill health. Racism is one of the reasons why people from racialised communities in the UK experience higher rates of mental ill health and coercive treatment from mental health services. Recognising the importance of racial trauma and partnering with community organisations can help mental health services to offer better support and to heal rather than harm. It’s also vital for the many thousands of health and care workers whose lives are affected by racism and discrimination. We urge all mental health services to commit to anti-racist and trauma-informed approaches in all aspects of their work.”
To address the harms identified, the report recommends that:
- Anti‑racism and trauma‑informed care become standard practice across all services
- The Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework (PCREF) is fully embedded
- Every Integrated Care Board (ICB) commissions mental health care that genuinely meets the needs of racialised and marginalised communities
- NHS and local systems work in partnership with community organisations and people with lived experience
The authors argue that only through structural change, accountability and collaboration can services begin to repair – rather than reproduce – the trauma caused by racism.
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