Our cultural competency approach is inclusive of all 6 equalities strands - race, disability, gender, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age. I believe this to be the only relevant approach to take as cultural factors impact on attitudes in all of these areas. I get sense that people want to keep narrowing cultural competency down to race and I think this is unfortunate and unhelpful.
Kind regards
Richard Bryant-Jefferies
Equalities and Diversity Manager
Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust
Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London
020 3214 5769
07976 770781
CNWL became a Foundation Trust on 1 May 2007. Foundation Trusts involve service
users, carers, the public, staff and partner organisations in the way they are run and
their future development. If you are interested in becoming a member of our
Foundation Trust please call 0800 0234047 or visit www.cnwl.nhs.uk/membership.html
for further information.
________________________________________
From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lisa Fontes [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 March 2009 13:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: cultural competence & anti-racist work
In response to Suman's statement, no, I do not believe that discussions of cultural competence "have exacerbated the persistence of racism" for a second. If cultural competence is discussed without a power analysis or without a discussion of racism, then it is inadequate. But cultural competence includes issues other than racism as well--such as language access. We can blame many factors for the persistence of racism but I do not think cultural competence is one of them.
I don't see us as needing to choose between anti-racist work and cultural competence. The two--necessarily--go hand in hand.
Lisa Fontes, Ph.D.
Union Institute & University, USA
author: Interviewing Clients across Cultures and
Child Abuse & Culture (both from Guilford Press).
---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:32:32 +0000
>From: SUMAN FERNANDO <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: Culturally Competent Services--Senior Coucil Managers will need more Help in understanding this!
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Dare I suggest that all this talk abut 'culture' and 'cultural competence'
>-and that seems to be what DRE is all about - may have obscured and so
>excacerbated the persistence of racism? The equalities agenda of course
>makes things worse. Are we back in the 1970s again? At the launch of the
>enquiry intoodeath of David Bennett (died ten years ago) when the people
>giving speeches said hiw keen the Govt was to pursue cultural comptence (or
>was it sensitiviry) someone in the audiance asked whether cultural training
>would have prevented hsi death. There was no answer!
>
>Suman
>
>Suman Fernando
>Hon. Senior Lecturer, European Centre for Study of Migration & Social Care
>(MASC)
>Visiting Professor, Department of Social Sciences, London Metropolitan
>University
>
>--- On Wed, 18/3/09, Sanyal Neil <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> From: Sanyal Neil <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Culturally Competent Services--Senior Coucil Managers will
> need more Help in understanding this!
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wednesday, 18 March, 2009, 5:52 PM
>
> I don't know where you work Kaltum but down here on the South Coast many
> managers are not entirely sure what a culturally competent service is
> either. In Dorset, where I live and used to work, it is like living in the
> 1950s in relation to many (but not all) people's attitudes and prejudices
> and awareness levels. Many of us working in race equality in Dorset use the
> phrase - "The land time forgot". At the DRE National Conference last
> Thursday a South Asian woman who has lived in the Isle of Wight for 10
> years broke down in tears in front of 400 delegates (I was one of them)
> when she described the island as being in the 1950s on equalities issues
> and how she gets spat on in the street just for being South Asian.
> The journey is a long one but here in Hampshire we feel we have moved a
> long way over the last 5 years of hard-working activity. We benefit from
> highly effective partnership working. I wish you well with your task to
> help your senior manager in his understanding!!
>
>
> Neil Sanyal MSc
> Senior Social Work Practitioner
> Romsey/TVS Community Mental Health Team (Hampshire Partnership Trust)
> 5 Horsefair Mews
> Romsey
> Hampshire
> SO51 8JG
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Health of minority ethnic communities in the UK
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of kaltum osman
> Sent: 17 March 2009 16:38
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Culturally Competent Services--Senior Coucil Managers will
> need more Help in understanding this!
>
> Dear all,
> Something to share with you:
>
> After all our hard work in making sure that culturally sensitive
> services are put in place, I have recently attended a meeting ( my work
> is now with BME Children and Young People), and at that meeting a
> senior coucil manager asked what culturally competent service was!
>
> I am not sure if people are getting enough trainings or knowledge but
> this certainly made me annoyed.
>
> Kaltum Osman Rivers
>
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