Inini Initiative

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Inini is a Karanga word to mean ‘the self’. The organisation is positioned in the Karanga culture framework which believes ‘the self’ is not separate from the world but united and intermingled with the social environment.

Our Background

Inini Initiative was founded by Last Mafuba, Susie Brennan and Margaret Msimbe four years ago and in total they have seventy-three years work experience in health and social care, and marginalised groups. Last and Susie both have masters degrees in human rights and law. The team was joined recently by Dr Mathew Nyashanu who is senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University. His background includes Education, Journalism and Public Health. Mathew researches widely into issues affecting ethnic minorities including HIV and Female Genital Mutilation. The idea of starting Inini, came from Last’s experiences of challenges she encountered while trying to integrate into her new community when she first arrived in the UK and the processes she went through to get to a place where she was able to settle and be happy. She was made aware through her own journey of the impact of the integration process on mental health, and that ethnic minorities were unable to access the support they need.

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The Inini Approach

Inini is a Karanga word to mean ‘the self’. The organisation is positioned in the Karanga culture framework which believes ‘the self’ is not separate from the world but united and intermingled with the social environment. The Karanga people believe it is through relations with one’s community and surroundings that an individual becomes a person of volition whose actions and decisions affect the entire group rather than just one self. Consequently, if the social environment is broken, ‘the self’ breaks and vice-versa. The Karanga people also believe that if a community rejects a child, they will burn it down to feel its warmth. Hence, Inini works to support ethnic minorities communities to understand and navigate their new social terrain to achieve a comprehensive cohesion with mainstream society. We provide a safe space for ethnic minorities communities to meet and connect while engaging in conversation on issues they find challenging in a weekly support group. In these meetings Inini creates awareness of mental health, services available and how to access them, and provide 1-to-1 psychological coaching. Besides delivering this culturally sensitive mental health service to ethnic minorities communities, Inini also offers to groups and institutions bespoke training on how to interact with ethnic minorities people, consultancy, talks in the form of seminars, public speaking, and discussions on a range of topics such as migration and homelessness, and they engage with institutions to influence decisions affecting ethnic minorities people.

 “MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS DON’T DEFINE WHO YOU ARE. THEY ARE SOMETHING YOU EXPERIENCE. YOU WALK IN THE RAIN AND YOU FEEL THE RAIN, BUT, IMPORTANTLY, YOU ARE NOT THE RAIN.”

Our Experience

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The Inini Zine

Inini publishes a quarterly zine, you can pick a free copy at our office.

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You can turn your life around today.

“Everyone needs help with their mental health sometimes. No matter what your mental health problems may be, there’s always someone there to support you – whether in person or down the phone.”