5 years building alternative help systems rooted in healing and racial justice
This Winter, we are thrilled to have turned five! This blog post is our end of year reflection, where we mark the half a decade we’ve spent championing healing and racial justice for Black and racialised communities across Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark.
We are proud to have reached this moment, with the support and collaboration of others with a shared vision.
Our work grew out of 2020 - a year that exposed deep social injustices, the fragility of existing systems, and the power of community-led care.
Partisan’s founding came from both frustration and hope: frustration with systems that too often fail Black and marginalised communities, and hope that healing for and by these communities is recognised where it’s happening, invested in and supported where it’s needed and centred systemically across society.
Over the past five years, our all-Black practice team of psychotherapists and clinical psychologists, with community practitioners, have worked alongside local people, young leaders and grassroots organisations to design, strengthen and invest in alternative help systems that centre Black healing, joy and justice.
By alternative help systems we mean the ecosystems, networks, practices, conversations and ways of being in a community that support and sustain people outside traditional systems, therapeutic or clinical models. They allow for a broader sense of wellbeing and thriving.
“...if you guys wasn’t here, more times we’d be outside, standing around. This is a much better alternative.” — Young person, 2024
We’ve also provided reflective practice and clinical supervision, to build capacity alongside community organisations, and embed care and connection for those doing vital community work. This is part of our drive to develop approaches that share power, knowledge and resources.
Half a decade of learning
Partisan’s current programmes include MyEnds (part of the My Lewisham consortium, improving community safety in the borough) and Harambee (a specialised Black-led partnership for young people, carers, families, guardians, and community members in Lambeth and Southwark). This work builds on a continuous test–learn–adapt approach that sits at the heart of our practice.
Five key moments in our journey:
Year 1: Growth from the greenshoots movement of 2020. Two therapeutically trained practitioners explored what they could offer amid widespread grief and calls for justice through the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID19 pandemic, providing support for communities and teams seeking space to process and heal.
Year 2: Decision to grow the team beyond the founders, to have a bigger impact and respond to clear community demand for relationship-led support.
Year 3: A strategic shift beyond mental health to address wider systems of injustice and inequality, and focusing our efforts more deeply in Lewisham, Southwark and Lambeth due to the strengths of our relationships here and to use the resources we had more effectively.
Year 4: The consolidation of our learning, building capacity and expanding our world view, and co-creation of a strategy, which includes our four guiding pillars - relationships, repair, redistribution and regeneration which are now embedded across all our work. Big new external projects started, which came with their own stretch, excitement and challenges
Year 5: A year of internal reflection, and deep work around roles, responsibilities, accountability and decision making, leading to a restructure. A growing focus on living our principles internally, and redistribution and influencing philanthropy externally to challenge traditional funding models and support community-designed solutions more sustainably.
Like many designing alternative systems, our journey has not been without challenges. We’ve navigated questions of sustainability, resources and impact, balancing work within and outside mainstream systems, and creating shared understanding of our principles and pillars, while holding the tension of slow structural change.
As we look ahead, our focus remains on deepening partnerships, sharing learning, and pushing for change to create a more equitable society where everyone thrives.
This milestone is a recognition of the people, funders and partners who have believed in community-led care and healing, and helped us imagine something better for South London and beyond.
“It is 100% a trust-based relationship now from our side as funders. I don’t need to know what’s happening within the organisation to feel confident continuing to partner with them for the next five, ten, fifteen years.” — Funder, 2024
“I heard about Partisan — that they provide Black psychologists, which, you know… I’d never seen before. I thought, that’s a good idea if most of our young men are Black — and they’ve all been really good.” — Project Partner, 2024