In our final episode, Jo, David, Michael and Jacquie address the roles of organisations in responding to long-standing societal disparities that result from structural and systemic racism.
They reflect on the inherent bias of systems and the impact of racism on staff and clients and the imperative for organisational leadership to actively and continuously recognise and dismantle racism.
Contributors
Jo Holmes
Jo is the Children, Young People and Families Lead at BACP, based within the policy team. Jo has a background in youth justice, youth work, extended schools and eventually school counselling. Jo leads on policy and campaign work linked to the provision of free at the point-of-access Government funded counselling in schools and other accessible community settings.
David Weaver
David is former President of BACP having previously served as a Governor or Trustee and Vice President. He has played a key role in BACP’s drive to embed social justice as a core principle of its work and strongly advocates the relevance of the counselling professions for 'ordinary people and communities’.
A former social worker, university lecturer and local authority senior manager, David is senior partner of DWC, a leadership consulting firm that works predominantly with public sector bodies in the UK. He is a former political advisor to the Deputy Home Secretary and Home Secretary in the late 1990s where he worked on critical aspects of the Home Affairs brief.
David is a co-founder of Operation Black Vote and sits on the boards of several organisations working in the areas of human rights, community development and counselling in communities. He holds an MSc in Human Resources Management and qualifications in coaching, conflict resolution and occupational psychology.
Michael Golding
Counselling has been a thread running through Michael's life for the last 30 years. During this time he's also worked at senior management level within the not-for-profit healthcare sector and he continues to support NHS and other senior professionals as an executive coach.
Michael has been a CEO, board member and national advisor and has learned to appreciate the need to balance these multiple perspectives and that we must always be careful which we choose to privilege over the others. He's also established a private counselling and supervision practice in Essex. He joined the BACP Board in 2020 and is now Deputy Chair.
Jacquie Burke
Jacquie is Group Director for the Children and Education Directorate at the London Borough of Hackney. A qualified social worker who has worked in the profession for three decades, she is systemically trained and has worked in child mental health, statutory and voluntary sectors. Having spent the majority of her career in London she feels like she has come home to Hackney: passionate about equity for all children, passionate about developing a diverse workforce with diverse leadership to achieve this, her energy is going into developing the Hackney STAR approach - systemic, trauma-informed and anti-racist. If every child in Hackney receives the STAR treatment she is confident her workforce will make a big impact on cancelling racism.