Responding to racist incidents: Racism, wellbeing and racial trauma
Racial trauma refers to the impact that racism has on a person’s health and wellbeing. What makes racial trauma so distinctive for adversely racialised communities is that is is:
- ongoing and cumulative: experiences of racism can occur over and over again, happening across one’s life for many people
- subjective: not everyone will react or feel the same way about racially violent content
- collective: an incident of racial violence in one location can have repercussions on the mental health of people across the globe, for example, the murder of George Floyd affecting the mental health of Black people around the world
- historical: racial violence from the past is still emotionally distressing for the descendants of colonised and racialised people today
Mental ill-health or racial trauma symptoms can include:
Accumulation of repeated interpersonal racism and the impact of institutional racism can cause stress that can have long-term physical health impacts. The mental health impacts of racism can lead to children and young people disengaging with education and feelings of alienation and isolation.
The qualitative study Speaking our mind by Intercultural Youth Scotland offers insight into issues related to racism and mental health for Black young people and People of Colour in Scotland. It illustrates the impact of racism on the mental health of these young people and their difficulty in talking about this issue to either family or school staff is also highlighted. Discussing their feelings with their family could be difficult due to stigma and lack of acknowledgement of mental health difficulties within some communities.
Barriers to talking to staff included; a lack of a safe space to do so and that racist incidents were not taken seriously by school staff and other adults. It was also noted that some children and young people’s mental health was negatively impacted by cultural expectations, especially gendered ones, and by the challenges of negotiating identity and belonging as second or third-generation immigrants. This report also identifies a number of barriers to engaging with mental health services.
Intercultural Youth Scotland offers a free mental health service for young people: Mental Health Service at Intercultural Youth.
Structural racism causes socio-economic inequalities across Scottish society. Adversely racialised communities are more likely to experience poverty, have poorer educational outcomes, higher unemployment, have contact with the criminal justice system, and may face challenges accessing or receiving appropriate professional services. This too impacts mental health while creating barriers to receiving support.
Implications for education practitioners
With racial trauma in mind, every education practitioner should consider how the content of their lessons could be affecting the health and wellbeing of the children and young people they teach. Consider the use of trigger warnings before exposing pupils to racially-violent content.
Have conversations with pupils collectively and individually about what would make them feel more comfortable when learning about racially-sensitive topics. Even if there are no visible ethnic minorities present, teachers should be modelling behaviour which safeguards the mental health of those who experience racism on a regular basis.
Preventing and responding to the impacts of racism on mental health requires a whole-school approach as outlined on other sections of this resource.
It is important to recognise that the mental health of adversely racialised staff may also be negatively impacted by racism in educational settings. The Scottish Government report Teaching in a diverse Scotland found that teachers from ethnic minority groups face racism and discrimination in the workplace. This includes racists attitudes and language of staff, parents and pupils. It noted that "Being subjected to low level everyday racism in a school setting affects an individual’s level of morale, confidence and self-esteem."
