A Reflection on Our EDIB Journey: Work in Progress
A Reflection on Our EDIB Journey: Work in Progress
At NCCH, we believe that conversations about equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging (EDIB) should be honest, open and ongoing.
Following our recent Creative Health Celebration event, we have spent time reflecting on feedback, listening to different perspectives, and having some important conversations. We wanted to share where we are—not because we have all the answers, but because we think it is important to be open about the process.
The truth is that we are still working it out.
The event raised important questions for us as an organisation. Some aspects went well but others did not go as we had hoped or intended. In particular, the conduct and focus of the panel discussion raised concerns by many due to the power and gender imbalance of the panel. The discussions that followed have highlighted areas where we need to learn, improve and change. Rather than treating these conversations as something that is finished and neatly resolved, we see them as the continuation of an ongoing journey.
We are committed to taking that journey seriously.
Over the coming months, we will be reviewing our own practices, developing clearer processes for considering EDIB across all our work, and looking closely at how we can better reflect the values that sit at the heart of creative health. This includes the implementation of an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) Approach, to ensure policies, practices, or decisions are fair and do not discriminate, which will be applied to all areas of NCCH work.
We want equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging to be embedded in everything we do—not treated as an add-on or a separate workstream.
We also recognise that we cannot do this alone. We will be learning from others who have faced similar challenges and who have developed approaches we can learn from. We will continue listening, reflecting and adapting as we move forward. Importantly, we do not want to present this work as complete. It is live, active and evolving. We will make mistakes along the way, but we are committed to learning from them and being transparent about what we are learning.
Our ambition is not simply to talk about the values of creative health, but to model them in how we work together as an organisation and how we engage with the communities we serve.
This is a work in progress, and we would welcome your thoughts, feedback and ideas. If you have experience, insight or perspectives that could help us on this journey, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you for being part of the conversation.
On behalf of the NCCH trustees and staff
