Voices in Relay
The Relay Format
The relay format positions participants as both subject and object, both petitioned and petitioner. After a brief introduction, six participants engage in 7-minute segments where each person:
- Answers questions from the previous participant (7 minutes)
- Transitions to interviewer role to question the next participant
- Passes the baton continuing the relay until it returns to the anchor
This structure creates urgency (time pressure demands clarity), democratises expertise (everyone is both teacher and learner), and embodies collective intelligence (understanding builds through conversation, not monologue).
Pilot Episode: "Beginning the Conversation"
Duration
45 minutes total (5-minute introduction + 6 × 7-minute segments = 47 minutes including transitions)
Episode Goal
Introduce the mental health reparations proposal through six voices that represent different relationships to the work: lived experience, clinical practice, research, commissioning, community organising, and policy-making. By the end, listeners understand what's being proposed, why it matters, who it's for, and how they can engage.
The Six Participants
1. Anchor Participant: Jamal (Black Gay Man, 28, Birmingham)
Role: Community organiser and mental health advocate with lived experience of mental health crisis and recovery
Why Jamal: Anchors the episode in lived experience while demonstrating leadership and expertise. Opens and closes the relay, creating circular structure.
Key Perspective: "The system wasn't built for us. This proposal is about building what should have always existed."
2. Dr. Amara Thompson (Black Lesbian Psychologist, 45, London)
Role: Clinical psychologist specialising in trauma and minority stress
Why Dr. Thompson: Brings clinical credibility and can translate lived experience into mental health frameworks. Can speak to why culturally-specific approaches work.
Key Perspective: "Generic mental health services aren't failing Black queer men by accident—they were never designed to succeed with us."
3. Professor Michael Adeyemi (Nigerian British Researcher, 52, Manchester)
Role: Professor of Public Health researching LGBTQ+ health inequalities
Why Prof. Adeyemi: Provides evidence base and can contextualise the proposal within broader health policy and research landscapes.
Key Perspective: "We have decades of research showing the problem. This proposal is about finally matching the scale of the solution to the scale of the harm."
4. Sarah Chen (NHS Commissioner, 38, Leeds)
Role: Mental health commissioning lead with responsibility for LGBTQ+ health
Why Sarah: Represents the system side—understands budgets, procurement, service specifications. Can speak to what makes proposals implementable.
Key Perspective: "Commissioners want to fund what works. This proposal gives us a roadmap with evidence, costings, and outcomes we can measure."
5. Marcus Williams (Black Trans Man, 31, Bristol)
Role: Peer support worker and community organiser focused on housing and mental health
Why Marcus: Brings intersectional perspective (trans + Black + working class), represents grassroots organising, speaks to structural determinants.
Key Perspective: "You can't therapy your way out of structural violence. This proposal understands that mental health is housing, employment, safety, and community."
6. Councillor David Okafor (Local Government, 44, London)
Role: Cabinet member for health and social care, Borough of Southwark
Why Cllr Okafor: Represents political will and local implementation. Can speak to how national proposals become local action.
Key Perspective: "This isn't just a mental health proposal—it's economic justice, workforce development, and community power. That's why it's politically viable."
Episode Structure: The Relay in Action
Introduction (5 minutes)
Sets context for the proposal, explains the relay format, introduces why this conversation matters now. Brief introductions of all six participants (30 seconds each).
Key Frame: "This isn't a traditional interview because the work isn't traditional. Mental health reparations require collective thinking. So we're going to think together."
Segment 1: Jamal interviewed by Rob (7 minutes)
Focus: What is the lived experience that makes this proposal necessary? What does mental health crisis look like for Black queer men?
Sample Questions:
- Walk us through your first mental health crisis. Where were the systems? What was missing?
- When you finally found support that worked, what made it different?
- This proposal talks about "reparations." Why that word?
Segment 2: Dr. Thompson interviewed by Jamal (7 minutes)
Focus: What does the clinical evidence say? Why do Black queer men experience mental health differently?
Sample Questions from Jamal:
- When I was in crisis, the therapist didn't understand my family, my church, or what it meant to be Black and gay. Is that just my experience?
- What does the research say about why we're 5 times more likely to need mental health support?
- Can therapy actually work if the therapist doesn't get your life?
Segment 3: Prof. Adeyemi interviewed by Dr. Thompson (7 minutes)
Focus: What does the research evidence base tell us about scale, intervention types, and outcomes?
Sample Questions from Dr. Thompson:
- I see individual trauma in my clinic every day. You research population health. What's the bigger picture?
- This proposal suggests 35,000 Black queer men need support. How did we get that number?
- We've had smaller projects before. Why hasn't that been enough?
Segment 4: Sarah Chen interviewed by Prof. Adeyemi (7 minutes)
Focus: How do good ideas become commissioned services? What makes this proposal implementable?
Sample Questions from Prof. Adeyemi:
- I write research papers. You write service contracts. What would make you commission this?
- £10.5 million over 5 years—is that realistic? Too much? Not enough?
- How would you measure whether this worked?
Segment 5: Marcus interviewed by Sarah (7 minutes)
Focus: How does structural inequality shape mental health? What are the connections between housing, employment, safety, and wellbeing?
Sample Questions from Sarah:
- As a commissioner, I fund therapy. You organise around housing. What am I missing?
- This proposal includes employment support and peer networks alongside therapy. Why?
- What does "mental health reparations" mean when you're organising at street level?
Segment 6: Cllr Okafor interviewed by Marcus (7 minutes)
Focus: What's the political case? How does national policy become local action?
Sample Questions from Marcus:
- Politicians talk about mental health in election campaigns. What happens after?
- If this money became available, could Southwark actually deliver this? What would it take?
- What makes a mental health proposal politically viable right now?
Closing: Cllr Okafor questions Jamal (3 minutes)
Focus: Bringing the conversation full circle—what does transformation look like?
Final Question from Cllr Okafor:
- Jamal, you started this relay. We've heard from clinicians, researchers, commissioners, organisers, and politicians. If this actually happened—if we secured the funding and delivered this proposal—what changes for you personally? For your community?
Jamal's closing: Connects his personal story to collective transformation, articulates both immediate impact (services exist, people survive) and long-term vision (community power, self-determination, liberation).
Production Design
Format Principles
- Intimacy: Recorded in a single room with all six participants present. They can see each other, react to each other, build on each other's words.
- Simplicity: No music, no sound effects, minimal editing. The content is compelling; production stays out of the way.
- Accessibility: Full transcript published alongside audio. British Sign Language interpretation available on video version.
- Transparency: Light editing only (removing long pauses, technical glitches). Keep the natural flow, including moments of emotion or disagreement.
Technical Specifications
- Recording: Professional studio (1 day: 4 hours recording + 2 hours setup/breakdown)
- Equipment: Individual microphones for each participant, professional recording/mixing
- Post-production: Light editing, mastering, transcription
- Distribution: All major podcast platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.) + YouTube video + dedicated webpage
Budget: Single Pilot Episode
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Participant honoraria | £1,800 | £300 × 6 participants (preparation + recording time) |
| Studio hire & engineer | £800 | Full day hire with professional recording engineer |
| Post-production | £600 | Editing, mixing, mastering |
| Transcription | £200 | Professional transcription service |
| BSL interpretation | £400 | BSL interpreter for video version |
| Video production | £500 | Single camera, minimal editing for YouTube |
| Travel & catering | £400 | Participant travel costs + food for recording day |
| Distribution & hosting | £200 | Podcast hosting, web hosting, domain |
| Project coordination | £600 | Logistics, scheduling, participant liaison (3 days @ £200/day) |
| TOTAL | £5,500 | Single pilot episode |
Timeline
- Week 1-2: Participant recruitment and scheduling
- Week 3: Pre-production (brief participants, finalise questions, logistics)
- Week 4: Recording day (1 day)
- Week 5-6: Post-production (editing, transcription, BSL interpretation)
- Week 7: Distribution (upload to platforms, create webpage, prepare promotional materials)
- Week 8: Launch and promotion
Total delivery time: 8 weeks from funding to launch
Success Metrics for Pilot
Audience Reach
- 1,000+ downloads/listens in first month
- 500+ transcript views
- Engagement from at least 3 target stakeholder groups (community members, commissioners, policy makers)
Engagement Quality
- 10+ substantive responses/feedback from listeners
- Requests for follow-up conversations or more information about the proposal
- Evidence of sharing within professional and community networks
Strategic Impact
- Opens doors for meetings with commissioners or funders
- Creates shareable content for proposal advocacy
- Generates interest in expanded podcast series (if resources become available)
- Demonstrates co-production approach in practice
Why This Pilot Matters
The relay format isn't just innovative audio—it's the proposal's values made audible. When listeners hear six people thinking together, building on each other's expertise, moving seamlessly between lived experience and policy analysis, they're experiencing what co-production sounds like.
The pilot demonstrates that mental health reparations isn't one person's idea or one organisation's agenda. It's a collective understanding emerging from community knowledge, clinical practice, research evidence, and political possibility. The format makes that visible—or rather, audible.
If the pilot succeeds, it creates a template for ongoing dialogue. The relay can continue, bringing in new voices, exploring specific aspects of implementation, tracking progress as the proposal moves towards funding and delivery. But it starts here: six voices, 45 minutes, a conversation that invites everyone listening to join.
Next Steps
- Secure pilot funding: £5,500 for single episode production
- Recruit participants: Approach potential participants with invitation and concept
- Finalise questions: Work with participants to develop question framework
- Schedule recording: Find date that works for all six participants + host
- Produce and launch: Execute production plan and distribute widely
This pilot isn't the end of the conversation—it's the beginning. Let's start talking.