Mental healthwithout community, there is no liberation

Our approach

Connection first

We don't start from what is wrong with Black queer men. We start from what we already do for each other, and build on it: gatherings, conversation, making things together, people who check in. Culture is what we do, and doing it together is how things change.

We also know why the official picture is so thin. The system runs on data, and the data was never built to see us.

The system runs on data.The data doesn't see us.So the system doesn't serve us.

So we gather our own evidence, with consent, and make the case for mental health support that is designed with us, funded properly and accountable to the people it serves.

Our campaign

Critical Frequency

Critical Frequency is BLKOUT's mental health campaign. It sets out the evidence, the cost of doing nothing and a plan for change led by our community, and it asks the people who commission services to act on it.

Go to Critical Frequency →

Essay · the census statistics

Who are the UK's Black queer men?

▶ Watch on YouTube

A demographic analysis built from Census 2021 and other sources: how many of us there are, where we live, and why services keep missing us.

Read the essay →

Essay · the theory of change

How change happens

▶ Watch on YouTube

The outcomes paper: how one person finding their people becomes a community that holds itself up, and why that is where investment should go.

Read the essay →

• Research briefingWhat the research shows about mental health, community and systems change
• The case for mental health reparationsThe same evidence, as an essay
• Policy briefingWhat decision-makers and funders can do
• Counting the costsHow resources could be allocated, and what they return
• Five livesIllustrative journeys through what could change
• Voices in RelayThe pilot podcast

Right now

Find your people