Windrush scandal victims to speak up about mental health and trauma

HMT Windrush - Source: Imperial War Museum Credit: Royal Navy official photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons  - The intergenerational mental health consequences of the Windrush scandal on Caribbean and Black African families in the UK will be explored in a new project launched by UCL academic Dr Rochelle Burgess and social commentator and historian, Professor Patrick Vernon OBE. The Ties That Bind is the first study of its kind to map the mental health impact of the Windrush Scandal and hostile immigration policies, not only on those who have been directly affected, but also their family members, who all may have experienced mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and race related trauma. The 'Windrush' generation refers to people who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1973, and of whom, many took up jobs in the newly formed NHS and other sectors affected by Britain's post-war labour shortage. The name 'Windrush' derives from the ship called 'HMT Empire Windrush' which brought one of the first large groups of Caribbean people to the UK in 1948. The Windrush scandal began to surface in 2017 after it emerged that hundreds of Commonwealth citizens, many of whom were from the 'Windrush' generation, had been wrongly detained, deported and denied legal rights. Victims of the Windrush scandal endured forced detention, a loss of employment, housing and livelihoods and were forcibly separated from families. They have often continued to have negative experiences as a result of hostile immigration policies.