Take part in the Mixed Race Mental Health, Wellbeing and Identity Research Project

‘Mixed- race’ people are the fastest-growing ethnic minority group in the UK and there is little support for this group when it comes to mental health. The Well Multi-Cultural Resource Centre and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde are committed to tackling this inequality by evidencing the needs of mixed-race people and highlighting the unique challenges they face.

About The Project

Yas as child with her mum Clare and brother Ben

This project is run by Yas (she/they), a person of Ugandan Asian and White British heritage. Growing up as a ‘mixed-race’ person in the UK, Yas found there was no discussion around their race - ‘I just thought I was a weird looking white person’. This then extended to not being able to explore the challenges they faced as a ‘mixed-race’ person. More recently conversations around racial identity have become more prominent, with an increase in resources and opportunities for ‘people of colour’, but these did not always resonate with Yas. Was this space for her? Would the experiences of ‘people of colour’ speak to her? With these questions at the forefront of their mind, Yas moved to Govanhill and began to find a sense of belonging that was new to them - ‘it doesn’t matter where you’re from when you’re surrounded by people from so many different places’. Now feeling comfortable and able to be an active member of their community, Yas hopes that other people can feel the same - starting with building a better understanding of the experiences and thoughts of ‘mixed-race’ people.

At a SEIN meeting Yas met staff from The Well Multi-Cultural Resources centre, and they spoke about wanting to start a project exploring mixed-race mental health, wellbeing and identity. The Well then offered to support Yas, whose background is not in research, in making this a reality. With funding from the NHS’s ‘anti-stigma fund’, the project was born. Yas wants to show with this project that research can be accessible to everyone, that it isn’t about writing hugely academic reports or having years upon years of experience, it’s about being interested in something and putting in the time and energy to learn and educate others more about it.

The initial stage of this project is getting as many ‘mixed-race’ people from around Glasgow to fill out a 5 minute survey about their relationship with being ‘mixed-race’, including their experiences, their feelings around the terminology, and what resources and support they’d be interested in. Following that a focus group will be built to further discuss the topics and examine what resources and opportunities they would like to see in the future. The research will culminate in a report of all the findings, which will hopefully contribute to young ‘mixed-race’ people growing up with better support. Yas hopes that this project can ‘start the conversation on how being mixed race can impact your identity, mental health and wellbeing’.

The Survey

If you are willing to contribute to this research, fill out the online survey: www.bit.ly/mixed-race-scotland.

If you would like to partake by distributing the form click here for the printable version, and contact Yas (yas@thewell.org.uk) to arrange submitting them.

About the Well

The Well Multi-Cultural Resource Centre is a registered Scottish Charity that exists to serve the ethnic minority communities in South East Glasgow. Their work supports people in these communities to overcome the disadvantages they often face, through one-to-one Advice Consultations and friendship-building activities. Click here for more about The Well.