Are they allowed to post a job advert like this?

[Echobeachfarawayintime]

I'm with an agency who are looking for a support worker for tomorrow.
It's a mental health setting and they've posted that the support worker 'must be white' in order to not upset the client's mental health.
Are they really allowed to post stuff like this?

It could be that the person is a raging racist and they want to safeguard BAME staff. Either because they are violent, or not wanting their staff to be subjected to racial abuse, or have to forcibly help someone that doesn't want their help and is protesting in various ways. Neither of those situations are acceptable for staff to be in. And if they walk out, as is their right , then they still need someone.

It could be that the person is triggered by a traumatic event from their past and is terrified because they think they'll be harmed. Again, not a good situation for staff to be put in and it definitely wouldn't help the patient's mental health.

It sounds and seems iffy, but probably the safest situation for everyone physically,mentally and emotionally.

I suppose they could've left it out and then just pick a white candidate,but it's still the same situation and it could put them in an awkward position legally.

Seems wrong to me though it is probably due to severe issues in the past with the client so understandable. Make/female can be specified too - my grandad had to have male carers because he was inappropriate with the female ones, I couldn't visit him alone (I went with my dad) in case he forgot who I was (likely after a while)

What would you do if they were a danger to others without appropriate support?

I had an elderly aunt who was a wonderful person. We lost her to dementia long before she died.

Once she had truly lost herself she acted like an awful abusive racist. Maybe she held those views all along but hid them well, or maybe it was the illness. But to say she didn't deserve care is wrong.

I have worked in a mental health hospital where one of the smallest wards was only staffed by the non white staff members as one of the patients with schitzophrenia was at that time, acutely psychotic and believed that the white staff were trying to drug and kill them. They reacted violently and were terrified of any white staff members.
The staffing stayed that way until that patient was in a more stable state- it kept the patients and all the staff safe.

We also have had wards where only the larger stronger men worked, and wards where all the staff had to be women. It is to keep everybody safe and well.

I was under the impression that personal care was excluded. Personally, I couldn't care less about colour but I'd not be keen to have the other gender clean my bum.

Surely people can see why sometimes specifying a certain group of people are excluded is necessary in personal care. Especially for people who have certain disabilities, illnesses or requirements.

Why are you surprised it's allowed

Occupational requirements are quite common for a wide variety of reasons

The CEO of a Christian organisation - kind of has to go to a practicing Christian

There have been plenty of council roles posted for specific ethnicities as that particular ethnicity makes up a large portion of the local population or service users

Editor in chief of Ebony magazine - should probably be black

Restaurants are also known for this too.

It's not even just in care

Yes, you can.... if you can prove its crucial. Same as asking for female/ male only carers if the client/patient isn't comfortable with the opposite sex caring for them.

I think this is fine.

I’d rather know before applying that the client was racist.

I’m sure a lot of white people will be put off applying knowing what sort of client the person is.

I know someone with Tourette’s who sometimes says very inappropriate and offensive things.
His life is very difficult as a result of it.

Racism is abhorrent but sometimes a condition can cause things to be said that belie the true feelings of a person.

Once she had truly lost herself she acted like an awful abusive racist. Maybe she held those views all along but hid them well, or maybe it was the illness. But to say she didn't deserve care is wrong.

I agree.

My gran had dementia and although didn’t say anything racist, she was a completely different person and said things that I truly don’t think she meant.

My aunt worked in a care home in California where they had to specifically not employ east Asian carers as so many of the male patients had been in the Vietnam war.

My Gran used to curse and swear at her home help I had never heard her swear before Alzhimers , my cousin had a mental illness that changed him his language and attitude was horrendous. I can see why care providers. Have to be selective in employing people for the right circumstances.

I'm guessing the people saying they should be left to it have no close experience with mental ill health and loss of capacity

A lot of people have a complete personality transformation when they get dementia.

My friend's mum was a ward sister who had kept her house immaculate and then started smearing her shit all over the walls when she was suffering from dementia.

It's a cruel disease.

Sounds awful when you see it written down doesn't it.

My great grandad turned into the most awful racist when he had dementia. He never expressed such views when he was of sound mind.

Anyone with any sort of accent different to his own, or any other colour except white he was utterly vile to. I felt so so sorry for the carers.

It is yes. Same for any protected characteristic as long as the company can prove the reason is to achieve a legitimate aim. In this case, not upsetting client OR staff member.

I hope you don't work in any care setting.

@Echobeachfarawayintime I'm sorry if this has upset you. However, working with clients who have MH problems, you should know that some people can't help their reactions. Maybe they were attacked by a Green person & now only trust white people to help them. If a Client only wanted a black/Chinese/polish/purple person if that can be accommodated I think it should be. They are the client & they should have the choice when at all possible.

Surely they must have worded it somewhat sympathetically and in a reasonably explanatory way? They must be able to justify this requirement under the Equality Act.

I find it disgusting. I hope they have some watertight justification in place.

There are many number of reasons that they may specify a white person - it could be because the client is a raging racist and so a support worker of colour would be in danger of physical/verbal abuse; it could be because the client has severe mental health issues whereby they have a fear of POC in that they believe they are trying to harm them, and so having a support worker of colour would be actively harmful of their mental health and the worker's safety; the client could have had bad experiences in the past with a POC - abuse/harassment etc - and so now their behaviour can be triggered by POC in their personal space.

Many people with mental health problems, dementia, brain injuries etc can display abhorrent behaviour but the person is not an inherently awful person, it is caused by their condition. When my grandmother got dementia she became the most verbally and physically abusive old woman. This is a woman who never so much as raised her voice to us never mind swore or smacked, but as the dementia worsened the venom that would spew from her would have made a sailor blush and she would think nothing of smacking/hitting/shoving someone if she didn't like what they were doing. Fortunately her carers all knew her as she ironically used to volunteer at the home she went into (we live in a small town) so they knew that her behaviour was a symptom of her dementia because it was heartbreaking to see my lovely grandma calling people "fucking prostitutes" for wearing bright lipstick when she would threaten to wash our mouth out with soap if we so much as said "damn" in her hearing.

People like my grandmother still require care and dignity in their support and if that means specifying that any support has to come from a white woman, in order to keep both the client and worker safe, then I think that's better than putting people at risk because nobody wants to be seen as discriminating.

It’s working with someone has possibly a severe mental illness. I would assume they have specified the race for a compelling reason.

From previous experience. We would go into a service user if we were white women, under 50, and no blondes.

Service user had been severely abused throughout his life. He was non verbal and would scream and hurt himself.

The ad said the role is in a MH setting, so there might be an element of previous trauma there, or the client simply lacks capacity.

I was kicked and spat at for being female by a patient I was caring for. Patient was sweet as pie to male staff. Patient had dementia. The same could apply with race, hair colour, clothing colour... anything really.