An overriding and unequivocal message from the BAME Big Conversation on 6 July 2020 is that RCOT needs to do more. Words and good intentions are not enough. Members have spoken clearly about what they see as the primary actions that are necessary to underpin future work to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within the profession and within RCOT itself.
This blog is about how RCOT takes on board the very clear messages and a preview of how we are moving from good intentions to actions. We will be posting more on our actions at the end of July. So what were the themes from the big conversation and lessons for RCOT?
RCOT needs to do more to draw on existing information and good practice
This is essential. In order to elicit meaningful change within RCOT, we agree that we need distributed ownership of this, as well as senior management ownership, as it impacts on everyone who works at RCOT. We are collating a list for staff, from the wealth of available resources for staff so that we can all enhance our knowledge and learning and become more aware of issues and experiences that our BAME members and colleagues are facing every day.
RCOT must examine its own structure, culture and practices
A focus on diversity, equality and inclusion needs to be embedded throughout RCOT; through our business planning, our activities and our actions. Each year we create a draft business plan, which is approved by Council in October, and addressing inequality and the lack of diversity will be included in the 2020/21 business plan as a priority goal. This will act as a catalyst to ensure we successfully embed equality, inclusion and diversity into all of our business processes.
The focus is twofold. As an employer, we can make changes to our HR corporate activities. As a start, we have commissioned mandatory online training for all RCOT staff on equality and diversity and unconscious bias looking at this from manager and employee perspectives. We have also started a discussion with staff on how we can improve our culture to be one that is more inclusive. But this needs to go further than just for those who work or wish to work at RCOT, we need this to become a golden thread, inextricably woven into our thoughts, deeds and actions, to carry this through to our professional body role. We have heard the calls for EDI expertise within the Royal College and will review what support we need in order to improve and explore what the most effective model will be.
RCOT needs to communicate and engage with BAME members sensitively and effectively
We have set up a way to contact our BAME colleagues directly, through a new EDI-BAME email group. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. If we want to improve BAME representation within RCOT and specifically within boards, and Council, we need to actively promote opportunities to underrepresented groups.
We are working to increase interest from BAME members for the current regional group committee posts that are available. It may be that observing a meeting might appeal to some as a very first step, or starting at a regional committee level might provide the necessary training ground for looking at governance posts within RCOT. RCOT branch staff are happy to talk through these opportunities with members who want to know more.
We will be setting up task and finish groups, on a range of topics and asking for members to work with us, as peers, ensuring that we benefit from the lived experience of those members who are keen to help. We will set out a programme of these in our next post.
Discrimination is a daily reality for BAME occupational therapists and occupational therapy students and BAME members should be better supported while training and in the workplace
The painful member stories of discrimination and microaggressions, experienced on a daily basis, highlight that we need to see this from a whole systems perspective. The range of suggestions of areas to focus on provided by participants in the Big Conversation show the extent of the task in hand. Clearly, if BAME members feel alienated, marginalised or not supported they will not stay in the profession. This will require RCOT and higher education institutions (HEIs) to work collaboratively, to better support students on their journey through to professional status and beyond.
Support in the workplace is very much within RCOT’s purview and will be a key part of our action plan. We need to ensure that members can access resources that support them if they are facing racism or microaggressions and also educate our white members so they can be an effective ally. For example, promoting allyship to all white members. Yvonne Coghill’s 7 A’s of Authentic Allyship.
More needs to be done to increase diversity within the occupational therapy profession
This is a current priority for RCOT. We have registered that this is a multi-faceted issue. The choice of occupational therapy as a career is complex in itself. It may not appear to match cultural expectations in terms of career progression, many people ‘find’ our profession through exposure from a family member receiving occupational therapy, but for some cultures, caring for family members is very much kept within the family. RCOT can influence here, through our brand, our careers materials and through initiatives such as showcasing diversity through our Small Change Big Impact story wall. RCOT can use its influence when invited to participate in national meetings. We have already put out a call to our BAME network for a representative to accompany us in a meeting to discuss EDI and BAME representation in the workforce supply-chain.
Diversity is more than just race
RCOT is developing a draft EDI strategy which will be taken to Council in October. We see this as very much the start of a long journey. Learning from black history has shown us that this situation has been a long time in the making, and there is much to do, to repair and rebuild. Working with our members, in co production, will allow us to move forward. We thank our members for their engagement and encouragement, and yes, we also thank the members who are taking on the role of critical friend and challenging us, we really do want to hear all sides, that way we will learn. We want to make sure this is a time when we can make a real difference that leads to impactful and lasting change.
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