Difficulty responding to racism in calls to suicide preventive helplines

“Examining racist speech in this context is important,” says Clara Iversen, researcher at the Department of Social Work at Uppsala University.

“People in support professions often see and hear things that are racist. They face a challenge in finding a balance between providing help or support to individuals dealing with mental health issues, while at the same time not participating in or legitimising racism.”

In the study, the researchers found that people dealing with mental health issues attributed their own vulnerability to a perception that other people, whom they described in racist terms (“racialised”), were in control. Moreover, they imagined that these “others” wanted to destroy them.

“As this is a line of reasoning used in genocide, mass murder and suicide, it is crucial to find ways to respond to racism without alienating the person, thereby making it easier for them to keep talking,” says Clara Iversen.

Can be perceived as humourless and petty

Responding to expressions of racism can be difficult because people themselves often show awareness of the problematic nature of the statement, for example by specifically labelling the word or framing it as a joke. This can lead to anti-racist criticism being perceived as humourless or as extremely petty.

“In the dialogues we analysed, we saw that it was not very fruitful to point out that the person was using racist language, even if the support person approached this delicately. If anything, it led to the unwell person focusing on the support person’s labelling of words and not on their actual issue,” says Clara Iversen.

Instead ignoring the expression of racism and simply providing support may seem obvious in relation to suicide prevention – what difference does it make how someone expresses themselves when they are struggling to find a reason to keep living?

Gently offering an alternative

But the researchers found that this did not seem to have positive consequences in terms of suicide prevention either.
“People caught up in a racialised others mindset continued to focus on their perceived problems rather than talking about their own situation – and now they could do so with a support person who seemed to agree.”

The researchers also identified a third type of approach, in which support persons used the same counselling techniques they had been trained to use when dealing with other types of counselling challenges, such as gently offering a different perspective to someone who has expressed hopelessness.

In such cases, the support person treated the racist world view expressed by the person as part of their mental health issues without blaming the person. The right to receive support was not questioned, but the support person provided an opportunity for self-reflection, which the person usually took.

Taking racism seriously

This kind of approach can lead to a more fruitful dialogue, according to Clara Iversen.

“When racism is part of the meaning-making in the situation – in our case linked to mental suffering – it is important to take it seriously. By trying to understand the problem from within the dialogue, without ignoring or legitimising racist statements, the support persons were able to provide an empathetic response while challenging potentially racist elements in the person’s reasoning.

Annica Hulth