Time to Change, England’s biggest mental health anti-stigma programme run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, is launching a competition to get students talking about one of the last remaining taboos with the help of BBC Radio 1Xtra’s breakfast guest presenters, The Mac Twins.

To launch the competition, which aims to get students talking about mental health by asking them to design a campaign that challenges people’s attitudes and behaviour around it, a panel event will be held with year 10 students at The International School in East Birmingham. At the event, Alana and Lisa Macfarlane, also known as The Mac Twins, will talk about the importance of ending the silence around mental health problems as this is something very close to their hearts.

Schools across the West Midlands are taking part in a curriculum-led schools competition to encourage young people to come up with creative ideas to stamp out stigma and discrimination around mental health problems. Over 50 schools in the West Midlands have signed up so far to take part in the competition set up by Time to Change in collaboration with the National Schools Partnership.

According to recent Time to Change research, nearly a third of young people in the West Midlands think that individuals with experience of depression could be a danger to others. The same numbers of respondents also see mental health problems as a sign of weakness.¹

Time to Change supporters, The Mac Twins said,

“Mental health is something we all have and it's so important to talk about it, especially if we need some help with it every now and then. If everyone learns to be more open about mental health problems, people will feel more able to seek the support they need without feeling scared or being judged. We hope that today we can inspire the young people we meet in Birmingham to get involved in this project and stamp out the stigma that many young people face.”

Jo Loughran, Head of Time to Change Children and Young people,

“Engaging young people around the topic of mental health is the first step in encouraging open conversations around it. We’re really pleased to be involved with local schools in the West Midlands helping students to break down the misconceptions that surround mental health problems. The lessons will educate them around the subject and dispel some of the myths associated with conditions such as Bipolar, schizophrenia and depression.”

Once schools register, teachers receive innovative resources and toolkits to engage their students around the subject of stigma and mental health problems. There are six lesson plans available for art and design, media studies, English, drama and PSHE. Although, these have been specifically created to help pupils shape their competition entries, they can also be used independently.

The curriculum-led competition is part of a wider pilot project to encourage young people in the West Midlands to tackle the taboo around mental health. It aims to reach young people and their families, particularly those who have no understanding of mental health problems, to change their attitudes towards others who are affected.

For more information go to www.time-to-change.org.uk/get-involved/resources-youth-professionals

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For more information please contact Larissa Abl, Time to Change Senior PR Officer, on [email protected] or 020 7840 3137.

Follow Larissa on Google+.

Notes to Editors

1SPA Future Thinking conducted face to face and online interviewing, on knowledge and attitudes around mental health, on behalf of Time to Change, among 1,026 young people, aged 14 – 18 years, and 1,207 adults in contact with children, in the West Midlands. The fieldwork took place during 20th March –20th July 2012.

Time to Change

Time to Change is England's most ambitious programme to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. The programme is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and funded by the Department of Health and Comic Relief.

Department of Health

On 2 February 2011 the Department of Health launched No health without mental health, a cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages which has the twin aims of keeping people well and improving their mental health and, when people are not well, improving their outcomes through high-quality services.

The strategy is based on six shared objectives, developed with partners from across the mental health sector, and focuses on ‘Recovery’ and the reduction of stigma and discrimination as overarching themes. To help deliver the objective to reduce the stigma faced by people with mental health problems, in 2011 the Department agreed to support Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. The Department of Health is providing the campaign with up to £16 million of funding together with a further £4 million from Comic Relief. This funding will help Time to Change continue their work until March 2015.

Comic Relief

Comic Relief is committed to supporting people living with mental health problems. The projects Comic Relief funds ensure people with mental health problems get their voices heard in the decisions that affect their lives and get the help they need to recover. Comic Relief also helps people to promote their rights and reduce the stigma and discrimination they face so that they feel more included in society. The £4 million grant to Time to Change is the second time the charity has awarded Time to Change its largest UK grant and is part of Comic Relief's long standing commitment to this issue. For more information go to www.comicrelief.com