Racialised communities in the UK face disproportionately high levels of trauma linked to racism, discrimination, socio-economic inequality, migration experiences, and structural injustice. Trauma is often cumulative and intergenerational, shaped by historical forces such as slavery, colonialism and displacement, and reinforced by contemporary inequities in education, health care, policing, housing and employment.
Trauma is repeatedly reproduced through public institutions. Although interest in trauma-informed care is growing within the NHS, current provision remains fragmented and inconsistent.
Trauma-informed approaches are rarely adapted to the realities of racial trauma, meaning that people from racialised communities often face additional barriers to care, including mistrust, language challenges, stigma, and prior negative experiences in services where they felt dismissed, misunderstood or re-traumatised.
This report makes a compelling case for a new kind of trauma-informed care, one that appreciates not only the ways in which structural racism causes trauma but also considers the role our healthcare system can play in compounding or mitigating that trauma.
Read the full report here: Trauma-informed care and radicalised communities Read Addressing Racial Trauma – A Guide For Practitioners In Public Services here Read Addressing Racial Trauma – A Guide For Public Services here Read Addressing Racial Trauma – A Guide For Policy Makers here Return to the insight bank