23rd – 29th September is National Inclusion Week, an event dedicated to celebrating inclusion and taking action to create inclusive workplaces.
The event was founded by Inclusive Employers and the theme for 2024 is ‘Impact Matters’. This theme is a call-to-action to everyone in an organisation, from leaders, to inclusion professionals through to teams and individuals.
To mark National Inclusion Week, we’re publishing our Inclusion Toolkit, a free resource that organisations can use to start discussions on how to make their communication, support and culture more inclusive.
This was developed by Leeds Mind colleague Sophia Naz Ulhaq, alongside volunteers from diverse backgrounds with lived experience of mental health, who were working on the Boost Project.
Sophia tells us a bit more about the toolkit.
“The Boost Project ran from April 2023 to March 2024, and it recruited, trained and supported volunteers from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds to become peer support facilitators in Leeds Mind Peer Support Groups. The project attempted to create workforce change to help these groups experience work within mental health.
Towards the end of the project, we wanted to create a toolkit to capture everything the volunteers had gained from the experience. Volunteers stated they felt able to thrive in an accepting and supportive environment, and suggested a toolkit supporting organisations to be inclusive in a simple, practical way could work. Volunteers were surveyed, attended group discussions and took part in 1-to-1 interviews to gather ideas, and the Inclusion Toolkit was born.
We hope to inspire deeper discussions on inclusion, more awareness and greater curiosity about the things we can make more common practice to ensure everyone feels comfortable bringing their diverse perspectives and experiences to their work. Many organisations are taking greater steps to increase the diversity of their workforce, and we hope this toolkit can be a part of that work.
Employing people from diverse backgrounds does not guarantee equal experiences or opportunities for every volunteer or employee. Inclusion is needed to give diversity real impact and create an environment where everyone is empowered to thrive. At its core, the toolkit is about helping organisations foster a sense of belonging in their culture.
How can businesses use the Inclusion Toolkit?
The toolkit is designed to fit in with the inclusion work your organisation is likely already doing and provides practical examples for change that could help progress that work. We have divided inclusive practices into Inclusive Communication, Inclusive Support and Inclusive Culture. We do not expect each organisation to achieve every point, so the first step would be to sit with your team and look at the Inclusivity Checklist. We recommend first celebrating any items you already do well and then selecting a few items you would like to do better.”
You can download the Leeds Mind Inclusion Toolkit for free here.
Thanks so much to Sophia for contributing to this blog and an extra special thank you to the Leeds Mind volunteers who supported and contributed to the co-production of this useful resource.
