The first phase of Synergi established an international centre of excellence on ethnic inequalities, severe mental illness and multiple disadvantage.

In this new phase of Synergi, our focus is on shifting power and resource to grassroots groups and community organisers working on the intersection of racial justice and mental health. We will be working with people doing lived experience work on the ground, who are imagining and building alternatives. We want to connect, amplify, celebrate and resource this work.

We are keen to work with all groups that have expressed an interest in Synergi so far, and begin to answer some questions about how best to do this work. Here is what has brought Synergi Project Manager Jessica (she/they), Synergi Director Debbie (she/her) and Communities and Grants Coordinator Alaina (she/her) to this work and what drives them forward.

“It would be a disavow and reductive to limit the experiences of mental health to White bodies. Rather, there is a need to acknowledge the interdependent but interrelated dimensions of racism and how it impacts on the everyday experiences of those who inhabit racialised bodies. Synergi’s aim is to amplify grassroots communities (who have historically been absent from the discourse and epistemology of mental health). Those working at the intersection of mental health and racial justice are not a homogenous group but rather a spectrum that includes resistance, liberation and also joy….

– Debbie, Synergi Director

“The intersections of racial justice and mental health carry such varied impacts on our individual and collective experiences. This can often become a tool for fragmenting us and our work due to siloed, limited resourcing and a lack of visibility. However, rather than disconnecting us, intersectionality can also be a tool for solidarity, and my hopes for Synergi are to create and nourish spaces where we can build solidarity and movement together. As well connecting to what is happening now, we can resonate with the work of those who came before us, and will archive the past and present for future generations to continue to build on.”

– Alaina, Synergi’s Senior Project Officer