About us

Discover our purpose

At We Are Akoma, we believe in fostering inclusive environments through culturally affirming practices. Explore our training, consultancy and supervision services designed to empower individuals and organisations, creating spaces that celebrate diversity and challenge discrimination.

Empowerment begins with understanding and acceptance.

Our Story

Founded in 2025 by experienced practitioners and trainers Kemi Omijeh and Dr Ama Collison, We Are Akoma was created to improve the outcomes of children and young people from racially minoritised backgrounds. As a purpose-led organisation, our work is rooted in anti-discriminatory, identity-affirming practice.

Both Kemi and Ama are also mothers of young children. Their experience of supporting their own children’s emotional wellbeing and advocating for them whilst navigating their first experiences of racism at school was a real driving force for founding We Are Akoma. They felt an increasing sense of urgency to skill up the children’s workforce and enhance the psychological safety of schools and other settings that children and young people occupy, so that children are not repeatedly harmed by enduring a lack of cultural competence and pro-active interventions from those trusted adults responsible for their care.

Check out the ‘why’ to our story in more detail here.

Our Vision

“Akoma” means heart – a West African symbol of love, patience and consistency. It reflects our heritage and our values. Everything we do is heart-led, purposeful, grounded in compassion, and based upon psychological theory

We believe all children and young people deserve to experience joy and have opportunities to thrive. We can only achieve this vision by upskilling the children and young people’s workforce of practitioners to be culturally competent and committed to embedding anti-discriminatory practice.

Our vision is to equip practitioners working with children, young people, and families with the confidence, knowledge, and skills to create truly inclusive spaces where every child feels seen, valued, and safe.

Our mission

Through deliberate practice, experiential exercises and providing psychological supervision, we cultivate culturally responsive, anti-discriminatory practice. Our services will facilitate individuals’ engagement in reflective practice so that they understand cultural factors, systemic influences, power dynamics and privilege that contribute to children’s racialised experiences and have an impact on children’s wellbeing and development.

Our impact-led approach safeguards and nurtures children by providing practical tools to make meaningful changes to their practice. We are committed to fostering a culture where every child experiences validation, empathy, and a strong sense of belonging, knowing they are accepted and experiencing psychological safety in their settings.

We’re more than a training provider. We’re change-makers, advocates, and allies working alongside you.

The Seven Heartbeats

The Seven Heartbeats represent the values that guide every aspect of our work. Rooted in compassion, community, and justice, these heartbeats reflect our commitment to culturally affirming, anti-discriminatory practice that nurtures both professionals and the young people they support.

Heart

The meaning and philosophical significance of ‘Akoma’ is ‘heart,’ derived from the founding Directors’ West African cultural heritage. It is a traditional symbol of love, patience and consistency, which are qualities that underpin our work and mission. We Are Akoma is a purpose-led organisation, driven by our hearts and compassion. We have an intrinsic passion to make a positive difference in young people’s lives, by educating practitioners and actively dismantling systems that harm minoritised communities while promoting equity, joy, and justice.

Community

Anti-discrimination is collective work. We Are Akoma supports multi-disciplinary practitioners to build and sustain meaningful connections with each other and the communities we support to centre marginalised voices, and foster spaces for collaboration in anti-discriminatory practice.

Integrity

We Are Akoma trained practitioners are committed to anti-discriminatory and ethical practice to support the positive outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Accountability

Through accessing ongoing supervision, We Are Akoma trained practitioners develop their sense of responsibility and intentionality in embedding culturally responsive approaches in their practice. Practitioners are trained to identify and proactively challenge discriminatory behaviour to safeguard all children and young people.

Safeguarding

All children and young people deserve to feel psychologically and physically safe and supported in the environments they occupy, so they can thrive and experience joy. We recognise that racism is a safeguarding issue. We Are Akoma trained practitioners will access culturally responsive supervision in order to continually consider contextual safeguarding factors and quality assure their practice. Ensuring practitioners are actively engaging in antiracism work to create safer and more affirming spaces for all children and young people.

Self-awareness

We Are Akoma trained practitioners will continually develop their self-awareness and embed reflective practice approaches to consider the impact of their own biases, areas of privilege and wellbeing on their practice, leading to meaningful and sustained positive changes for young people and their families.

Emotional wellbeing

We dream of all young people having access to culturally competent and anti-discriminatory support to maintain positive wellbeing. All young people should be able to be vulnerable when things are tough and seek appropriate professional support. This will be modelled by We Are Akoma trained practitioners and professionals already engaged in anti-discriminatory work who will access psychological supervision to support their own emotional wellbeing and continuous professional development.

Meet our team

Get to know our Founders, whose experience and passion are at the heart of We Are Akoma.

Kemi Omijeh

Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist, Supervisor & Trainer

Kemi is a BACP-registered Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with over 15 years’ experience in mental health and education. She began her career as a primary school teacher and held senior leadership roles, including Director of Pupil Wellbeing. She now provides clinical supervision, training and consultancy to help professionals embed trauma-informed, identity-affirming and culturally responsive practice.

Her work is grounded in psychological expertise and a deep commitment to racial equity, inclusion, and sustainable change.

Dr Ama Collison

Educational & Child Psychologist, Teaching Fellow & Consultant

Ama is an HCPC-registered Educational and Child Psychologist. She recently completed BPS-accredited supervision training at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust.

She has spent 15 years supporting children and young people from marginalised communities, particularly those from racially minoritised communities and/or with SEND and social, emotional and mental health needs. Ama also teaches at King’s College London, training school-based mental health professionals and supervisors.

Her approach is relational, anti-discriminatory, and systemic based upon evidence-based psychological practice.

Professional Affiliations

We Are Akoma practitioners are professionally registered and trained to the highest standards.

We work in accordance with professional codes of ethics and safeguarding responsibilities.