On Wednesday 10 October, to celebrate World Mental Health Day, a ‘pop up’ village with a difference will hit the streets of Liverpool thanks to Time to Change, England’s biggest mental health anti-stigma campaign, run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.
As part of a new concept to challenge mental health stigma, the village will encourage people who don’t have experience of mental health problems to get talking to those who do. The free event will run from 9am to 6pm at Williamson Square.
The village will include a tea shop, library, post office and even a cinema. However, all of the areas have all been specially designed so that members of the public can enjoy the activities and learn more about mental health from people with a personal experience. Evidence suggests that this kind of contact is one of the most effective ways of breaking down stigma and improving attitudes.
The library area of the village will be a ‘Human Library’ where the books are real people and can be loaned to tell their stories. The cinema will show short films and adverts and the post office will include an interactive ‘community notice board’. Village goers will also be asked to post up their thoughts on how mental health discrimination can be tackled so that Time to Change can learn directly from the local community. There’ll also be plenty of entertainment including a performance by the city’s choir, Wirral Samba and an open mic session featuring local musicians. Traditional arts and craft making sessions will also be run by The Voirrey and Voluntary Art England’s Up for Arts.
To ensure the village provides support and information for people with mental health problems, a number of other mental health organisations and charities will run ‘The Surgery’ where information on local and national services will be available.
The village will form part of a wider Mental Health Awareness Week in Liverpool and events are being organised in partnership by Voluntary Arts England’s Up for Arts, Liverpool City Council, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool Primary Care Trust and Liverpool Mental Health Consortium, as well as other local mental health organisations.
Sue Baker, Director of Time to Change said:
We know that social contact between people with mental health problems and people without the same experiences is one of the most effective ways to challenge misconceptions and stereotypes. By entertaining and engaging people we expect that they will learn something new and feel less afraid of having more open conversations about mental health.
The Lord Mayor Councillor Sharon Sullivan will also be attending this event. She said:
I am delighted to be attending such a unique and positive event. The pop up village is a great way to raise awareness of mental health issues.
“As a society we should all be trying our hardest to remove some of the stigma surrounding mental health and make sure that the lives of people who suffer on a day to day basis are not made more difficult by negative stereotypes.
“I think if we are all honest, at some point in our lives we have ourselves suffered or are aware of someone who has suffered from some form of mental health problems.
“I hope we can encourage as many people as possible to go along to the village at Williamson Square and learn more about mental health and what we can all do to help those who suffer from the illness.”
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For more information please contact Hayley Richardson, Time to Change Senior Media Officer, on [email protected] or 0208 2152 358/ 07789 721 966
Notes to Editors
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