CLERGY within the diocese of London who report having experienced racial trauma of their work are being offered one-to-one therapeutic support.
The diocese launched the trial support system, Healing Together, on Thursday, to coincide with each World Mental Health Day and Black History Month.
The pilot is being funded by the Racial Justice Unit of the Church of England and delivered by Inchange: a bunch of facilitators and consultants specialising in social justice and therapeutic healing.
The diocese’s GMH/UKME clergy (of global-majority heritage/UK minority-ethnic) can apply for one-to-one trauma-informed coaching for as much as six sessions. These would explore experiences of racism and discrimination, survival responses, and patterns around trust, conflict, and alter.
This style of support was really useful by Dr Selina Stone, tutor in social and political theology for St Mellitus College, in her 2022 report If It Wasn’t for God (News, 21 October 2022). Her study found that the Church of England remained a hostile and unsafe place for a lot of non-white clergy.
The Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Revd Anderson Jeremiah, said on Thursday that — because the lead bishop for racial justice within the diocese of London, “one of the diverse dioceses within the country” — he had heard “on a too-frequent basis of times when clergy have been failed or subject to harm due to the color of their skin.
“This trial is a landmark first step forward for the diocese, and I pray that clergy inside London and beyond who’ve been affected by racism can find support, healing, and the continued strength to fight for change.”
