Partisan to Close After Five Years of Community-Led Mental Health Work
Partisan to Close After Five Years of Community-Led Mental Health Work
Partisan, a Black-led mental health and systems-change organisation, has announced it will close after five years, citing structural and financial challenges within the sector.
Founded in 2020 following the George Floyd protests, the organisation worked across South London, partnering with 43 organisations and reaching over 1,000 people through community-based programmes in schools, youth spaces, and local settings. Its approach centred culturally grounded, community-led care and lived experience as expertise.
Partisan also contributed to policy and strategy work with the NHS, local authorities, and national initiatives such as the Black Mental Health Manifesto. Key programmes, including MyLewisham and the Harambee Partnership, focused on building alternative, community-driven support systems—some of which will continue beyond its closure.
The organisation pointed to a funding landscape that prioritises short-term delivery over long-term infrastructure, alongside internal capacity and governance challenges, as key reasons for its closure. It stressed that these pressures reflect wider systemic issues facing community-led, anti-racist work.
Partisan will share its learning and resources in the coming months.