We spoke with Sibel Albay. Sibel is She is also DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) Lead for the CYPMHS and Specialist Service Region as well as the Co-Chair of the Steering Group of the DE&I Steering Group at Elysium. We spoke to her about her different roles and why she feels so passionately about DE&I.
“I come from a background that is quite diverse, I am Turkish/ Kurdish, Alevi and experienced discrimination when I was growing up. I have been on the receiving end of discrimination personally, but also I have seen colleagues at work being affected by discrimination from patients because of their ethnicity. I wanted to help make a change and help make a difference and so joined a DE&I group.
“At Potters Bar, we support both children and adults as it includes both an adult acute service and a CYPMHS service. In terms of DE&I, that early work with the children is incredibly important as we can support them to understand more about diversity earlier in life, there is a better chance that views or misconceptions will not become so entrenched and established.
“In the role I have now, I’m not directly based on the wards, but in my eight years working as a healthcare assistant and a nurse on CYPMHS and Adults wards, I have witnessed people being called inappropriate names linked to their ethnicity. Understandably, that leaves people very distressed. I have always tried to educate people and have been an active bystander. To help them understand that it’s not acceptable, that we do not accept or tolerate that behaviour. Also where patients have said they will only have support from team members who are of a certain race or ethnicity, it’s important that we are consistently saying that everyone is here to care for the person, everyone is here to support them. It is important that everybody works together and conveys the same message.
“However, when a person is in crisis, it can be difficult, as often they have little or no control of what they are saying or doing. Nevertheless, we have to be consistent – this behaviour is not acceptable and we will challenge.
“I always try to support my colleagues who have been affected by this. I often find myself 
apologise to them that they have experienced this behaviour and recognise that they have every right to find it distressing. It is so important to recognise that – it should never be shrugged off as ‘well, it’s part of the job’ or ‘can’t be helped’. Recognition is so important and reporting and recording these incidents are fundamental.
“As a regional DE&I lead I gather together the details of any DE&I related events that have taken place throughout the region. It’s great to see what services have been doing to explore culture, diversity, equity and inclusion and sharing these events and initiatives can inspire other services to try something new too.
“We also explore what DE&I adjustments have been made in the region and really just look after all elements of DE&I. It’s always great to hear about DE&I in action.
“Across the services we’re seeing people really enjoying taking part in events celebrating different aspects of DE&I such as LGBTQ+ events, religious and cultural events, for example. Equally the people we support and colleagues have really been engaging with these and they are a great way for us to share the important messages about DE&I and learn and understand more about each other at the same time.”