November marks Islamophobia Awareness month, an important month in the Touchstone calendar. This month shines a light on the Islamophobia experienced by Muslim communities across the UK and the globe and unites many in the fight against it. Rise in Hate In recent times, many in diverse Muslim communities, as well as other minority communities, including refugees and asylum seekers, have experienced a general rise of hate, ignorance, fear
Our Recruitment and Inclusion Team have been working with three NHS trusts in Yorkshire to improve their workforce diversity and inclusion. Below, the team have completed a Q&A on their project to explain how you can get involved and get support... Names: Ruth Armitage (they/them) - Recruitment Inclusion Officer Emilie Akselsen (she/her) - Recruitment and Inclusion Coordinator What support does the NHS Employment project offer? The project is a
West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership (WY&H HCP) supports 2.7million people, including over 300,000 unpaid carers, living in urban and rural areas. 570,000 are children and young people. 20% of people are from minority ethnic communities. A WY&H HCP review in 2020 identified the need for an anti-racism movement aimed at WY&H HCP staff, organisations and communities. Our objective is to unite WY&H HCP colleagues and communities in
Mental health and wellbeing charity Touchstone has ranked 4th in the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers’ at a ceremony in Manchester last month. he Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list awards UK-based organisations who promote employee inclusion at all levels of their businesses, including management, senior, executive and board level. Organisations entering the awards must demonstrate the promotion of all strands of diversity including age, disability, gender, LGBT, race, faith and religion. Touchstone,
Another year, another fabulous show of Touchstone supporting the LGBT+ community at Leeds Pride! Partnering with Leeds Mind, Live Well Leeds, and Community Links, this year our #PartnersInPride saw a great turn out for the biggest parade ever seen at Leeds Pride, with 130 companies parading and over 60,000 spectators. P.S. Ours was the big red vintage bus, full of and surrounded by our celebratory colleagues and clients – and
In June here at Touchstone we were asked to present a workshop at the PWP National Networking Forum for IAPT in Birmingham. Aniysa Azam (Senior PWP) and myself (Deputy Manager) went and shared the Touchstone PWP team's learning over the last 6 years on topics of: common challenges in delivering a good quality and equitable service to clients from Black and Minority backgrounds and what Touchstone have done to overcome these challenges. We covered how to challenge
St Georges Centre Leeds, 22nd June 2018 We successfully held a consultation event where all local mental health services were asked to promote the event and bring along their service users. As well as having lived experience speakers we had a few professionals throughout the day letting us know the good things that are happening in the city. Flyers were also handed out for months leading up to the day
Yorkshire mental health charity Touchstone celebrates achieving coveted three star accreditation in the annual Sunday Times Best Companies to Work survey in recognition of its extraordinary levels of employee engagement. The charity, ranked 8th in The Sunday Times Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2019, was also given the Discovering Potential award for the third year running and the Giving Something Back award for first time. This is the seventh
International Women’s Day events are held worldwide on March 8 to celebrate women and their global contribution. Various women, including political, community, and business leaders, as well as leading educators, inventors, entrepreneurs, and television personalities, are usually invited to speak at events on the day, highlighting their successes to illustrate how much progress has been made, and often how much further there is till yet to go. Many students in
In celebration of LGBT History Month, Touchstone is profiling a different LGBT celebrity each week in the month of February. The chosen celebrity this week is Laverne Cox: twin; actress, television producer and LGBT advocate. Born in Mobile, Alabama, Laverne was bullied constantly as a child and describes how she attempted suicide when, aged 11, she realised she was attracted to boys but knew this would be seen as sinful