Events

Being Mixed Race: Stories and Experiences of Mixed Race People and their Families

People in Harmony will be holding a seminar about the experiences of mixed race people and their families in Britain.

People of mixed race have very different experiences of childhood depending on where they have grown up; what they look like i.e. their skin colour; and they way in which their family, school and community recognises, accepts and supports their mixedness. This extreme heterogeneity does not allow for a one-size-fits-all assessment of their needs and this is the challenge for professionals and practitioners who may be called upon to provide services for this group.

In the 2001 UK Census 677,117 (1.15% of the total UK population) people were identified as being of mixed race. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that by 2009, this figure had significantly risen to 986, 600 and in the latest census in 2011, the figure had reached 1, 224, 400 (2.2% of the total UK population).  It is of concern that mixed race children are over represented in key areas of social concern, e.g. on child protection registers, on mental health wards and in the care and criminal justice systems.

There will be three speakers, as well as opportunities for debate and discussion.

Dr. Nick Banks – Clinical Psychologist and Senior Lecturer in Psychology: ‘Mixed race’ identity and its development process.

Pat Ward – Counsellor and Play Therapist: The Experiences of White women in mixed race relationships as individuals, partners and mothers.

Steve England – in a personal capacity: Unlocking Identities: demystifying the experience of the 1940s-50s mixed race child.

To book a free place visit www.pih.org.uk or email office@pih.org.uk