Roadshows

The Time to Change Roadshow tours England…

The Time to Change Roadshow began on Monday 21st September in Bournemouth situated near the Liberal Democrats’ party conference, and since then has visited shopping centers, high streets and has been near political conferences all around England. With celebrity appearances at several events, the tour has been an amazing success, with partners working together to create a Roadshow that has really got the public talking about mental health discrimination.

Oldham Athletics came along with their team mascot, Chaddy the Owl, to the Oldham Roadshow, and got the public involved in lots of physical activity, including having a freestyle footballer by the stand all day doing impressive tricks. Another highlight of the Roadshow was near the Labour Party Conference in Brighton, where several political personalities visited the stand to sign up to the visual pledge. At the Peterborough Roadshow Nicole Lawrence, recently on The X-Factor, joined former Olympian Geoff Capes and the Mayor of Peterborough, Irene Walsh, to support the Time to Change campaign.

Throughout the Time to Change Roadshow the Visual Pledge has been a big focus, and aims to be the biggest historical show of support for ending the discrimination and stigma faced by those with mental health problems. People have been adding their photos to a mosaic of faces to visually show their support for ending mental health discrimination and we currently have over 2000 people who have joined the visual pledge! We hope to have thousands more joining to show their support, and if you are a Facebook member you can log straight onto www.facebook.com/timetochange become a fan and also sign up to the Visual Pledge now. Everybody can view the visual pledge at www.time-to-change.org.uk/visualpledge.

From carers and health professionals to service users, during the 12 event Time to Change Roadshow over 100 volunteers have worked hard to help end mental health discrimination. Camilla Dallerup of Strictly Come Dancing fame has attended more than one Roadshow, giving cha cha lessons to the crowd, and at Southwark, Laurie Pennie from ‘One on Four’ magazine spent a few hours chatting to the volunteers. At all the Roadshows people with direct experience of mental health problems have been a big part of the teams, and in Nottingham and Leeds the Time to Change staff were joined by exceptionally high numbers of volunteers, so a big thank you to everyone involved in the first ever Time to Change Roadshow.  To find out more about what you can do to help Time to Change visit www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved.