Across the UK and Ireland, Romani and Traveller families are facing a mental health crisis – and almost no one is talking about it. In some communities, suicide has become heartbreakingly common, particularly among men. Meanwhile, support services are scarce, culturally inappropriate or simply not reaching people at all.
Our recent study, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, found alarming levels of mental ill-health and suicide in the communities we visited. Professionals showed little interest in reaching out to these communities, whose cultures they did not understand.
That silence is deadly. And it’s not happening in a vacuum.
Romani and Traveller communities have endured deep-rooted racism and injustices for centuries. Nearly all media coverage of Romani and Travellers is negative and sensationalised, and this ongoing racist portrayal takes a heavy toll on their mental health.
Antigypsism
While local authorities and residents often raise concerns about the unauthorised use of public spaces, it is important to understand the situation facing many Gypsy and Traveller families. Despite their longstanding nomadic traditions, there is a significant shortage of authorised stopping places across England. This is partly due to changes in planning policies and legal frameworks.
In 1994, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act repealed the requirement for local authorities to provide sites, and granted police broad powers to remove families from unauthorised encampments. Since then, conditions have only worsened.
In 2022, the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act made it a criminal offence to live on land without permission, even when there is nowhere else to go. These powers can lead to families being fined, jailed or having their homes (trailers and vehicles) seized.
Meanwhile, the requirement under the Housing Act 2004 for councils to assess and meet the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers is inconsistently enforced. The Planning Policy for Traveller Sites was revised in 2015 to redefine who qualifies as a ‘Traveller’, now excluding those who are unable to travel due to age, illness or discrimination. It’s catch-22: families pushed into bricks-and-mortar housing or prevented from travelling are no longer recognised in official data. Out of sight, out of mind.
Instead of criminalising nomadism, we need to return to a rights-based approach. That means reinstating a duty to provide sites, reforming discriminatory planning definitions, and working with Gypsy and Traveller communities to co-design safe, legal stopping places that reflect real needs. It also means holding local authorities accountable for meeting their obligations under housing and equalities legislation.
After all, the question we should really be asking isn’t why families stop in parks, but why, in 2025, England still refuses to give them anywhere else to go.
Assimilation or integration?
Is the real agenda that mainstream society is so threatened by nomadism that it wants Romani and Travellers to assimilate rather than integrate?
Great diversity exists within Romani and Traveller communities, each having different ethnic origins and migration patterns, cultural practices and mores, although all sharing experiences of historical and contemporary racism and its associated traumas. Romani Gypsies, Irish and Scottish Travellers and Roma are legally recognised as ethnic minority groups in England, Wales and Scotland. As such, they qualify as protected groups under the Race Relations Act 1976 (amended 2000) and Equality Act 2010 in relation to racism, hate crimes and discrimination.
Most community members, however, have no awareness of their rights under such legislation, and professionals do little to advise them.
Othering
The constant ‘othering’ of Romani and Traveller people – through law, media and public attitudes – pushes these communities further into crisis. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, for example, effectively criminalises nomadic traditions.
The impact of this othering and the lack of professional attention and intergenerational trauma has led to high levels of mental distress and the highest suicide rates of any UK ethnic group.
Health and social care services have not addressed the mental health needs of Romani and Traveller communities in the UK despite the efforts of the Romani and Traveller Social Work Association, which has co-produced educational packages and practice guides as well as presented at a series of professionals’ conferences.
Many Romani and Travellers are unable to navigate bureaucratic digitalised access systems – and do not always relate to the concept of preventive services. Men, in particular, suffer in silence and ‘reach for the rope’ rather than seek help.
Many men are now unemployed, and the traditional role of male ‘breadwinner’ is vanishing in communities. That loss of identity is believed to be one factor driving the alarming suicide rate. And despite the efforts of grassroots organisations, many men are still very reluctant to engage in wellbeing or mental health initiatives.
What works? A few good examples
In our research, we struggled to find good examples of mental health practice but used social media and their own cultural capital to seek out participants, eventually attracting six organisations which participated as case study sites.
All organisations except one (which was funded by a health trust) were run by voluntary Romani and Traveller organisations.
We used focus groups and staff interviews co-facilitated by an academic and a Romani or Traveller team member. 70 community members and 21 staff members participated from a range of Romani and Traveller backgrounds. Only two organisations had effective links with local health and social care services. The others said they had experienced little to no institutional engagement.
What did make a difference? Participants pointed to a few key factors that made mental health services feel approachable and relevant:
- Close relationships between the local Romani and Traveller organisation and key local health and social care staff
- Staff who understood Romani and Traveller ways of life
- The presence of a community member within the service
- Options for both group and individual support
- Staff continuity – members who ‘stuck around’
- Drop-in services that did not need appointments or involve long waiting times
Unfortunately, these features were the exception – not the rule.
So, what can you do?
We will not conclude with the standard recommendation of research studies, namely that ‘more research is needed’. The parlous situation regarding mental health in Romani and Traveller communities is well documented. What is needed now is to turn all those reports, including the one generated by our research, into action.
Can we all do something to address the mental health of our Romani and Traveller communities? The answer, of course, is ‘Yes’.
You don’t need to overhaul your whole organisation – small steps matter.
These are ‘quick wins’, but they send a clear message: You are welcome here. Because doing nothing is a choice too – and it’s one that has deadly consequences.
Meanwhile, those unwilling to confront their own bias – the so called ‘aversive racists’ among us – will continue to look away as the Romani and Traveller mental health crisis worsens.
Peter Unwin is a Principal Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Worcester and a Director of the Romani and Traveller CIC. He has worked across children’s and adult social care services for many years and has taken a particular interest in co-production.
Allison Hulmes is a Welsh Gypsy, a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Swansea University, Director and co-founder of the Romani & Traveller Social Work Association and Romani & Traveller Representative at the International Federation of Social Workers. Allison is an activist for Romany and Traveller rights, including widening participation in education.
Inequalities in mental health services for Romani and Travellers: time for social work to step up? by Peter Unwin and Allison Hulmes for Critical and Radical Social Work is available to read on Bristol University Press Digital here.
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