A message from the team at Olly’s Future

We’ve reflected heavily on the events of the past two weeks that have highlighted the structural racism still rife throughout society. This has sparked constructive dialogue at Olly’s Future around ways we can better address and embed diversity and inclusion initiatives in our suicide prevention work. We have realised there is so much more we can and need to do to take a more actively anti-racist and anti-discriminatory approach, and we are taking steps to implement changes immediately.

We will be establishing a Diversity & Inclusion working group whose first task will be to add a section on D&I in our strategy document so that considerations on diversifying our work and our reach will be integrated throughout our ethos. We will be adding D&I as a standing agenda point in our monthly meetings so that we can share new ideas and hold ourselves to account on our progress. In the coming weeks, we will also be reaching out to charities that work with BAME and marginalised communities to direct them to our suicide prevention training and events, and diversify the groups we work with. We look forward to sharing more updates in this space with you soon.

We encourage other charities and community organisations to reflect on their own approach and take steps to diversify their work to become more inclusive and amplify the voices of marginalised communities.

Olly’s Future stands with the Black community and firmly against racism and discrimination of any kind today and every day. We are determined to play our part in making a lasting change, something we think that Olly would have been proud of.

Love and light to you all x