Local gangs shaped my childhood. Growing up as a Black man in London, I found myself accustomed and affiliated to ‘gang life’. I experienced firsthand the violence that gang-involved young adults are at increased risk of as victims, perpetrators and witnesses. Now, as an...
racism
You’ve very recently been on the receiving end of racist abuse on Twitter. How did you feel when you first saw those tweets?
Initially, the tweets left me feeling numb. A survivalist mentality kicked in; one that I recognise from a much earlier age....
Imagine, for a moment, being the black sheep of your family simply because you refuse to dehumanise and discriminate against others; this has been my life for the last 30 years.
I lived on the same street from 1996 until I left our family home. It was a dysfunctional...
The British Psychological Society’s Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Conference was, for the first time, held virtually and saw four keynote speakers present over two days.
The BPS DSEP Chair, Dr Robert Morris opened the conference and introduced the first...
It’s safe to say that if the past few months have highlighted anything, it is the lack of understanding and awareness of the difficulties Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) people face in our society today – and, the struggles they face within psychology.
I have...
How did the podcast come about?
Pete: Well, Hugh and I, along with, Rory Mack, a PhD researcher and Motivational Interviewing trainer, have a WhatsApp group. We have some pretty honest conversations about sports psychology, about our...
In the October issue, Jonathon Dawson asked how to address racism in therapy. Dawson mentioned that a key aim of therapy settings is to build therapeutic alliance, yet his...
Psychology is increasingly aware of the reality that significantly lower proportions of individuals from Black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds access psychological services. There have been discussions regarding what the barriers might look like and how these may widen...
I was intrigued by Lewis Mitchell’s letter ‘What does evidence look like?’ in the November issue, arguing that we need scientific proof of institutional racism. Such evidence...
How did the programme come about?
Following the success of Rob Rinder’s BAFTA winning Who Do You Think You Are the BBC wanted to explore further the experiences of second and third generation Holocaust survivors. I believe they placed an ad in both...