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06 Sept 2025
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06 Sept 2025
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Unison's Black and Migrant Officer Beverly Simpson says the event is for everyone, with a particular focus on Black and migrant workers.
An event aiming to help Derry's black and migrant population destigmatise the mental health issues that can come with emigrating will be held in the Guildhall.
The Unison event will include various speakers and stalls aimed at providing care for anyone facing mental health issues.
It takes place during Unison's Year of Black Workers, with the union putting a year-long focus on issues that affect its Black members. It also takes place during Black history month.
Event organiser and Unison's Black and Migrant Officer Beverly Simpson said she was inspired to create the event after having her own struggles.
“The event is centred around migration and that it's a trauma in itself. You come into a new society and you're adjusting and you develop mental health issues or mental health illness and you don't know what help to seek or who to confide in,” she said.
“It came about a couple of years ago when I needed help with mental health and I've been pondering on it for a while.
“I had gone to my GP at Aberfoyle and Dr. Kelly listened to me and referred me to Derry Well Woman and I was fortunate to get a really nice counsellor there and she worked with me and as a result of that. That's why I'm here today and that's why I'm promoting it.”
Beverly said that when her struggles first started she felt like she had no one to speak to.
“It's all about removing the stigma, because we don't talk about it within our own communities. It's a taboo.
“I wanted to open up the conversation around it. Because in 2012, I couldn't tell anybody about it. Not a single soul, because I felt nobody in my community would talk about the idea.”
The event's keynote speaker is Siobhan O'Neill, Professor of Mental Health Sciences at Ulster University.
Dr Mukesh Chung, an Anaesthetist Consultant at Altnagelvin Hospital, is also speaking. A panel and other speakers are also involved.
“It's the first event of its kind in Northern Ireland so I wanted everybody to feel it's a safe space.
“It's including everyone but because it's Black History Month, and Unison's Year of the Black Worker we focus mainly on the minority that wouldn't get help because they don't know who to go to.”
The event will take place from 11am until 2pm on Monday 9 October.
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