Wednesday 10th July @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
About the briefing
Join us as we launch a new briefing: ‘Unhealthy Liaisons: NHS Collaboration with the Counter Terrorism Clinical Consultancy Service (CTCSS)’, written by Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly.
CT CCS is an NHS–police mental health team that evolved from the Vulnerability Support Hubs, which were exposed in the 2021 Medact report Racism, mental health and pre-crime policing. It raises serious concerns about the nature of medical cooperation with Counter Terrorism Policing.
We will reveal details about this worrying service, and be joined by a panel discussion with expert speakers on: the implications of this collaboration, harms of the securitisation of health, co-optation of health workers into counter-terror policing, and the encroachment of counter-terror policing in healthcare and public sector spaces.
We will also discuss how we can go about challenging these practices in the current political context, and as part of Medact’s work campaigning to end Prevent Duty in the NHS.
Panelists
Dr Charlotte Heath-Kelly is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. She is currently completing a 5 year study, funded by the European Commission, investigating the different Prevention of Violent Extremism policies used by European nations. The focus is on the integration of healthcare professionals and pre-crime logics, or their absence, in European counterterrorism. Professor Heath-Kelly has published five books with Manchester University Press & Routledge, and more than 30 peer-reviewed articles in international academic journals.
Dr Layla Aitlhadj is the Director and Senior caseworker at Prevent Watch, an NGO that supports individuals who have been impacted by the Prevent duty. She has been directly involved with 300 of the 700+ cases that have been documented by Prevent Watch to date. She co-authored the People’s Review of Prevent and the Response to Shawcross report with Prof John Holmwood and has contributed to a number of articles, UN submissions and reports as an expert in Prevent.
Dr Tarek Younis is the Racial Justice Researcher at Healing Justice London and Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Middlesex University. He researches and writes on Islamophobia, racism in mental health and the politics of psychology. He teaches on the impact of culture, religion, globalisation, and security policies on mental health. As a registered clinical psychologist, he primarily attends to experiences of racism, Islamophobia, and state violence in his private practice. His book is called The Muslim, State and Mind: Psychology in Times of Islamophobia.
Nina Navid is the Racial Justice Campaigner at Amnesty International UK, focusing on counter-terrorism, policing and supporting activists to take anti-racist action. She has previously worked in Amnesty’s Government and Political Relations team, and as a Crisis & Tactical Campaigner. Prior to working at Amnesty, she worked for the Shadow Minister for Women & Equalities.
Jim Killock is Executive Director at Open Rights Group. Since joining Open Rights Group in January 2009, Jim has led campaigns against three strikes and the Digital Economy Act, the company Phorm and its plans to snoop on UK users, and against pervasive government Internet surveillance. He is working on data protection and privacy issues, as well as helping ORG to grow in size and breadth. In February 2024, ORG released a new report, Prevent and the Pre-Crime State: How unaccountable data sharing is harming a generation.
Event details
This is a hybrid event, so please indicate when registering whether you wish to attend online via Zoom or in-person at a venue in Shoreditch, East London. Deadline for in-person registration is July 8th. The venue is accessible and full details will be provided on registration.