Reports on an Anglo-French partnership, between Medway Council and the Maison de l'Initiative in the Grande Synthe region, which is pioneering 'cultural mediation' as a way to combat exclusion among ethnic minorities. The project is funded until July 2005 by the European Union's Interreg IIIA programme. In Medway the project is focusing on improving access to social services for people from ethnic minorities with mental health needs, physical disabilities and learning difficulties. In France the mediators are targeting employment issues for ethnic minorities.
Reports on an Anglo-French partnership, between Medway Council and the Maison de l'Initiative in the Grande Synthe region, which is pioneering 'cultural mediation' as a way to combat exclusion among ethnic minorities. The project is funded until July 2005 by the European Union's Interreg IIIA programme. In Medway the project is focusing on improving access to social services for people from ethnic minorities with mental health needs, physical disabilities and learning difficulties. In France the mediators are targeting employment issues for ethnic minorities.
Subject terms:
learning disabilities, mental health problems, physical disabilities, social services, access to services, black and minority ethnic people, employment;
Journal of Public Mental Health, 15(4), 2016, pp.229-234.
Publisher:
Emerald
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has experienced what the media describes as a “suicide epidemic” in the workplace, with rising numbers of employees choosing to kill themselves in the face of extreme pressures at work.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a comparative approach drawing on insights from the French context, in which workplace suicide is legally and officially recognised, to shed critical light on the UK context where workplace suicide remains a hidden phenomenon.
Findings: Whilst in France, workplace suicide is treated as an urgent public health phenomenon and data on suicides are collected centrally, in the UK, despite a deterioration in working conditions, suicide is not recognised in legislation and data are not collected centrally. Unless society recognises and document rising workplace suicides, it will not be possible to deal with profound human consequences for suicidal individuals, their families and society more widely.
Research limitations/implications: Research on workplace suicides in the UK and many other national contexts is hampered by fragmentary statistical data on this phenomenon.
Practical implications: The paper calls for greater recognition, analysis and monitoring of workplace suicide in the UK. Suicide should be included in the list of workplace accidents that are reported to the authorities for further investigation. In a context where workplace conditions are deteriorating, society need to recognises the profound human costs of these conditions for the individual employee.
Social implications: The paper has important implications for the contemporary workplace in terms of the contractual relationship between employer and employee.
Originality/value: Workplace suicide is an urgent, yet under-researched phenomenon. The paper brings a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective to bear on this phenomenon.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the rising public health phenomenon of workplace suicide drawing on comparative insights from the French and UK contexts. France has experienced what the media describes as a “suicide epidemic” in the workplace, with rising numbers of employees choosing to kill themselves in the face of extreme pressures at work.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a comparative approach drawing on insights from the French context, in which workplace suicide is legally and officially recognised, to shed critical light on the UK context where workplace suicide remains a hidden phenomenon.
Findings: Whilst in France, workplace suicide is treated as an urgent public health phenomenon and data on suicides are collected centrally, in the UK, despite a deterioration in working conditions, suicide is not recognised in legislation and data are not collected centrally. Unless society recognises and document rising workplace suicides, it will not be possible to deal with profound human consequences for suicidal individuals, their families and society more widely.
Research limitations/implications: Research on workplace suicides in the UK and many other national contexts is hampered by fragmentary statistical data on this phenomenon.
Practical implications: The paper calls for greater recognition, analysis and monitoring of workplace suicide in the UK. Suicide should be included in the list of workplace accidents that are reported to the authorities for further investigation. In a context where workplace conditions are deteriorating, society need to recognises the profound human costs of these conditions for the individual employee.
Social implications: The paper has important implications for the contemporary workplace in terms of the contractual relationship between employer and employee.
Originality/value: Workplace suicide is an urgent, yet under-researched phenomenon. The paper brings a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective to bear on this phenomenon.
(Edited publisher abstract)
Subject terms:
public health, death, suicide, employment, comparative studies, statistical methods, data collection, mental health problems;