Black History Month
We’re celebrating Black History Month (BHM) and embracing the theme this year of Reclaiming Narratives.
Since 1987 BHM has been celebrated in the United Kingdom each October. BHM provides opportunities for people from all of our diverse communities to promote knowledge of Black history, culture and heritage; share positive Black contributions to British society and heighten Black people’s confidence in and awareness of their own cultural heritage. The term ‘Black’ includes anyone who identifies as part of the African diaspora.
Reclaiming Narratives is more than just a theme it’s an invitation to every member of the Black community to take part in shaping how their stories are told. It’s about ensuring that their voices are heard, their experiences acknowledged, and their contributions celebrated.
As part of this, staff from across the organisation have shared their narratives about what Black History Month means to them. You can read them below. More will be added throughout the month.
Robert Mooken - Shares his story
This year’s theme for Black History Month is “Reclaiming Narratives,” and I wanted to share my narrative. Despite getting through school, college and university, I was often made to think and feel that being a senior leader in any organisation was impossible. I was born on the African island of Mauritius and came to England at a young age when my father received a scholarship to study nursing in the UK.
Transition was difficult for me; making new friends, going to a new school, learning a new language and yes, getting used to the cold climate...Before joining the NHS 26 years ago, I worked in industry for 11 years but always wanted to put what I had learned into practice to support the health services. I joined the NHS in the late 1990’s and was able to use my skills in project management to run a small team and later to manage both local and regional projects.
I am currently the Trust Head of Quality Surveillance, which is a senior role. This role enables me and my team to utilise strong analytical processing, analytics, and governance intelligence to identify any areas of quality concern as well as good practice, by understanding themes and trends better via data and information.
My journey has not been easy, but I have been able to use my lived experience to support the Trust in its journey towards becoming a pro-equity organisation. My lived experience has become a positive narrative not only to shape how we recruit, retain and support staff, but to help people understand what being an anti-racist organisation means and looks like. Let’s all share our narratives and celebrate Black History. As someone once told me, “Never stop dreaming, never stop believing, never give up, never stop trying, and never stop learning”.
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