About Us
Partisan is a small, Black-led Community Interest Company, designing alternative help systems for Black and racially minoritised communities.
We were born out of a pull from the community for accessible and culturally sensitive mental health and wellbeing support, and a push from traditional mental health systems which were not meeting the needs of our most marginalised and racialised communities.
Why we exist
Evidence shows mental health and wellbeing support is not accessible for many children, young people, families and communities.
Consequently needs often go unmet, leaving people vulnerable.
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Traditional mental health services meet the needs of some people but are often not flexible enough to meet the specific and complex needs of those who are marginalised, stigmatised and excluded
For good reason these communities often have difficult relationships with help, and negative experiences with our current systems; where whiteness prevails, the evidence base for interventions is Eurocentric, mental health trainings are underpinned by theories that are rooted in slavery and colonialism, and racial trauma is pathologized
These services may have long waiting lists, be in areas where people feel unsafe, staffed by professionals with limited understanding of their cultural contexts and worlds, have rigid appointment times, and are bureaucratic
Marginalised, stigmatised and excluded communities are often left feeling judged, uncomfortable, unsure who they can trust, and further harm is caused as a result of our existing systems and services that are often trauma-inducting, rather than trauma-informed
As a result people often don’t engage and services lose resources.
Communities have long felt the effects of these discriminations
Our approach
We take a non-pathologizing view of mental health. We don’t believe that problems - and therefore solutions - exist within individuals.
Instead we believe change is needed at all levels of the complex system in which people find themselves.
“I knew that mental health and wellbeing services needed to look different, and so I started by doing something different.”
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“I started my career as a Youth Worker, before training as a Child, Adolescent, and Family Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. The intention for embarking on clinical training was to better support the people I was working with in the community. However the further along this route I travelled, the further I distanced myself from the people I’d sought to help in the first place. I found myself in clinics and working for organisations that had little flex, where attendance rates were low, and Black and Brown young people in particular were not engaging. I knew this couldn’t be it.
I started connecting and aligning more with community psychology approaches, which seemed to combine my youth work beginnings, with my clinical training, and my passion for equity, social and racial justice, and systems change. However putting the values behind this approach in to practice was difficult whilst working inside the system, my ideas and suggestions often weren’t heard and I was constantly reminded of my Psychotherapeutic boundaries when I tried to do something different. Being person of colour in such big, well established institutions where whiteness prevailed was tough.
I was still being asked by people from the communities I’d worked alongside if I could help out, and I missed being on the frontline. But it was the comments of three young people I used to work with that really stuck with me, I bumped in to them in the community and told them about the spaces I was now working: one said “you wouldn’t catch me in dem places”, another said “I thought you’d always be in the community”, and the other asked for my help… but I couldn’t think of a way he could access me or mental health support quickly.
At this point I knew that mental health and wellbeing services needed to look different, and so I started by doing something different. I set up Partisan.”
Our Principles
All our work revolves around our guiding principles: the four 4R’s.
These are our pillars, and have been chosen to help us to pull away from capitalist and colonial systems that recreate inequalities and harms in the world today (in particular for marginalised and racialised communities).
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We recognise that the current system doesn’t value the time it takes to build trust and relationships, which is core to change work at an individual, community and systems level.
Relationships move at the speed of trust; sometimes this is a two step dance between process and relationships, depending on what is needed. We take the time to understand ours and others relationship patterns and experiences before doing the hard work of change together. We expect rupture as a normal part of life and invest time in repair.
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We recognise that the current system has harmed and continues to traumatises marginalised and racialised communities. Repair requires a long term commitment; it is multifaceted.
We are re-defining what healing is with our communities. We are committed to learning more reparative practices and approaches to support the healing that needs to happen in order for people to live their preferred story.
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We recognise that the current system is extractive and continues to uphold white supremacy, heteropatriarchy and all the dominant practices that oppress.
We recognise that communities hold ideas and strength, and believe in the Ghanaian principles of ‘Sankofa’; going back to acknowledge and learn from what has been done, so as not to make the same mistakes. This builds on ancestral and cultural wisdom, as well as existing strengths in the community to create change that can be sustained, retained and built on.
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We recognise that power, knowledge and resources are currently held by a few.
We use approaches that actively disrupt this, focusing on participation of those who are most marginalised and racialised. We prioritise redistribution and give collective agency to make changes, not only because this is fairer, but because it makes most sense to centre those most affected by these issues as they have the most insight, ingenuity and value to add.
Both the individual and combined use of the principles helps Partisan to create a different way of being between ourselves as a team, and those we work and partner with.
We are best known for our work on the borders of traditional mental health systems; alongside children, young people, families, and communities.
Testimonials and comments
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“I appreciated the flexibility of this therapeutic approach… working outside of clinics, but still thinking and following clinical processes just the same. The biggest learning I took away from this work is the importance of good trusted relationships; with the people we support therapeutically, but also the community who often hold existing relationships with the people who need our support the most, but who often go unseen. This was key to the success of the work.”
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“I felt very comfortable, I was given all the choice; where I wanted to meet, what I wanted to talk about, how I wanted to go about things. It made me feel more free and less overwhelmed… I’ve had therapists before and I never really felt a connection nor the satisfaction of speaking to that person. I was just there because people would tell me “you need help” or “therapy helps”… this was different, [my therapist] would always try to make me feel okay and reassure me that I shouldn’t suppress certain emotions just because I am a man… It came to the point where I was looking forward to going to the sessions and I ain’t ever felt like dat before about therapy.”
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“Introducing therapy to young people in locations they chose and where they felt comfortable, rather than the usual traditional settings meant they were more open to engaging. It was adaptable to meet the needs of them… It was a good experience for me; working alongside specialists gave me the opportunity to develop my knowledge and learn new things in the field of mental health … they seemed to also learnt a lot from me too. It gave me a different outlook on the work I do and gave me the confidence to better support with low level mental health difficulties.”
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“I am truly grateful to you for instilling hope in young people and supporting me with my own self care practices too… You have been instrumental in changing my mindset, and shifting how I view everyday situations with the young people we come into contact with... especially those who have encountered traumatic experiences. I’m truly humbled to have you supporting our charity, and my hope is that more young black men in particular experience the benefits of therapeutic support from you.”
Our vision is a future world where help systems centre marginalised and racialised communities, and where power, knowledge and resources are shared as part of a more connected, just and equitable world.
This means unlearning that the current colonial and capitalist systems are fit for purpose, and relearning how to act, live and be.