October is Black History Month and this year the chosen theme is around reclaiming narratives. In other words, sharing and championing stories and experiences from people of black and other global majority heritages and breaking down the barriers to people’s voices being heard. Working to create and maintain inclusive, safe working and living environments in which everyone feels comfortable and encouraged to share their stories and discuss their experiences. When one community feels anxious or unsafe to talk about their own narratives and stories, this can stifle creativity, create divisions and introduce bad feeling into an otherwise effective team.

In a care setting, the staff and resident community can be diverse and far-reaching in terms of backgrounds, cultures, heritages and lived experiences. When stories can be shared with each other in a rich and diverse setting, the rewards can be multiple. Here are some ways in which you can encourage people to share stories, value experiences and reclaim narratives from across black and global majority communities.

Share stories with and among your residents

We all love a good story, especially when it relates to the direct experiences of the person telling it. This month, why not hold a Black History month storytelling session for residents from all backgrounds to discuss the narratives that are important to them? Encourage people to share tales from their past and their culture or heritage. If people don’t want to talk, they could write them down or paint or draw pictures that represent what they want to say. These can then be collected and shared among the group, or even printed as a photo book or put online for a wider audience. This could be a fun way for staff to get to know each other better too. You could also encourage people to look out their favourite books from their own backgrounds to read aloud, discuss or introduce to a book club.

Add inclusivity to your entertainment programme

Think about how to reflect the diversity present in your care home when planning your next round of entertainments, outings and activities. Ask people what they would like to do and which areas of their culture, or other people’s they would like to experience. This could be inviting speakers on related topics, watching films from different cultures or listening to music influenced by from black or global majority backgrounds. Think about the language that is used during activities too to ensure that everyone can feel included and can understand what is being said or conveyed to them. Again, Care Vision can help with this, thanks to the personal record feature that allows residents’ personal preferences around interests, language and methods of communications to be noted and shared.

Check your diversity policies and practices

Black History Month could also be a good time to go back through your care setting’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies to make sure they are up to date and effective. Ask staff to give you their feedback on the policy and any ideas for adding to it, altering it or removing anything that is no longer relevant. This can all be done via the admin tools on Care Vision, as well as the feedback function and message centre. Areas to specifically check include bullying and anti-discrimination policies, use of appropriate vocabulary and assessing the efficacy of any diversity programmes you have in place for staff and volunteers. Use Care Vision to plan and book any training that may be required to support this important piece of work.

Focus on fundraising and charity initiatives

If you are thinking about changing the charities you support, or starting up a fundraising initiative, consider choosing an organisation to donate to that supports the black community in some way. From good mental and physical health causes to charities that support diversity in education and the workplace, there are several to choose from. At the same time, take a look at your supplier list to see if you could add any black-owned businesses to it to help add diversity to your provision in that way as well. Don’t forget to involve everyone in choosing charities to support, coming up with fundraising ideas and running them without making assumptions about who among your staff might like to take part.