As the first speaker of the introductory session and the expert by experience, I thought it was pivotal to set the day's tone by sharing how racial injustice and health inequity have a circular relationship and cannot be addressed in isolation. I wanted to share my personal experiences and barriers when accessing mental health services, and the impact racial bias can have on treatment and recovery. I feel the obstacles are a lack of trust, stigmas, stereotypes, and health services not being tailored to Black people. I also reflected on how the narrative "Strong Black Woman" can be harmful and dismissive when asking for help. I mainly wanted to encourage action and collaboration by the VSCE sector to acknowledge the statistics we are aware of and share tangible learning by sharing the best practice. In the morning session, I was struck by the word cloud created by the attendees, with the question, what comes to mind when you think about racial inequalities in health? Keywords stood out, including unfair, injustice, racism and discrimination. It was clear that we are all aware of the issues. Dr Habib Naqvi, Dr Halima Begum and I called for action through collaboration, intentional engagement with minoritised communities, the sharing of resources, and introduced the NHS Race and Health Observatory work.