Cambridge university head tackles black men's 'stiff upper lip'

Simon Woolley was knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2019 and by December became a life peer

The first male black head of an Oxbridge college says black men are as "fragile as everyone else" and should talk more about mental health.

Lord Simon Woolley, the principal at Homerton College, Cambridge, is due to take part in a sofa chat with an audience on Wednesday evening.

The 61-year-old pointed out black men were far more likely to be sectioned than white men.

"The data is truly heart-breaking," he told BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.

"With men in general there's often a stigma, a stiff upper lip. Being brave and that's doubly so in the black community too."

Lord Simon Woolley will be talking about his own mental health in an event to encourage open talks amongst black men

Government figures showed 342 detentions under the Mental Health Act per 100,000 people in 2021-22 were black people, compared with 72 who were white.

Lord Woolley, Cambridge sociologist Jason Arday and writer George Mpanga (aka George The Poet) are due to talk about their mental health journeys - as part of Black History Month - at the McCrum Lecture Theatre at Corpus Christi College.

The cross-party peer, who is founding director of campaign group Operation Black Vote, was the third person to be a elected head of an Oxbridge college.

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Sonita Alleyne became head of Jesus College in 2019 and Baroness Amos at University College, Oxford in 2020.

Lord Woolley was appointed to lead the government's Race Disparity Unit by Prime Minister Theresa May in 2018 and was knighted in 2019.

Simon Woolley was elected to the role of principal of Homerton College in April

He added: "It's normally a very private affair with you and your councillor but with me it will be with 150 people and online too.

"When I go into Homerton College I often put on my gown… and say this is my superpower, but in reality, black men in general and black men in positions of power have particular stresses that we often can't talk about.

"There's these great expectations we cannot fail because we're carrying a community.

"Failure is not an option and that's a burden too."