World Mental Health Day 2003

World Mental Health Day is on Friday October 10th. It is a day of celebrations sponsored by the World Health Organisation every year to raise awareness of mental health.

Leeds City Cenre Stall

If you want to join us for the Leeds City Centre World Mental Health Day 2003 stall (see below for 2002's event), call Louise on 0113 2954443 or Melissa on 0113 305 7158.

Leeds has a reputation for celebrating and marking World Mental Health Day in many creative and varied ways. The 10th of October may seem a long way off but is never too early to start planning.

Click here to download the school event poster for WMHD 2003

World Mental Health Day 2002

As the 10th of October approached, the Indian summer we had all been basking in started to give way to the harbingers of a cold winter. I arrived in Leeds Central Square just before 8.30am and the cold easterly wind crept up my trouser legs and down the back of my neck to remind me that the season was changing.

As I began to set up the table and put up the banners, I was thinking about how the profile of mental health services and the images of positive mental health are changing too. There have been some negative stories about people in the news who may have mental health problems but, overall, there is a strong feeling that the winds of change sweeping through services are resulting in a lot of positive outcomes.

(In our Trust we will shortly be advertising for service users to work in specialist roles on acute wards. This is a huge step in the direction of improving the experiences and empowerment of service users and I feel very proud to be part of that vision for our services.)
A veritable crowd of us - service users, carers, professionals and executives - spent the day listening, talking, informing people about, AND most importantly celebrating, World Mental Health Day.

Mums and Dads were happy for their children to be given special balloons, for their children to wear badges and enjoy the chance of an informal chat.
We talked to some young people who had just arrived in Leeds to study and were very interested in what we were doing.

Many people wrestle daily with problems, that they are not getting help with and cannot talk to family and friends about. It is nice to be able to give information about sources of help that people can choose to use. The knowledge that you are not the only person with a particular problem; are not ‘going mad’ and having information, are crucial to accessing support and understanding before a problem becomes overwhelming or makes you feel isolated or marginalised.
We also met a significant number of people who were looking for jobs and careers in mental health promotion in Leeds.

Thank you to everyone who supported me in continuing to make this event a regular feature in Leeds. In particular Maria, Melissa, Kathryn, Nigel, Deborah and Julie who devoted a tremendous amount of energy and time to make the event go so well.
As the day drew to a close the wind was getting colder, the nights were drawing in, but we genuinely felt a great deal of warmth within, that our time and effort had made a difference.

If you want to join us for World Mental Health Day 2003 or hear more about what we are doing in Leeds call me, Louise on 0113 305 6063 or Melissa on 0113 305 7158.

Louise Puddephatt
Service User Involvement Facilitator, Leeds Mental Health Teaching NHS Trust

World Mental Health Day Celebration
Stockshill Day Centre, 16th October 2002

The day began with poetry readings from service users and a one-act play, written and performed by members of Dosti (the Asian Women’s Support Group which meets at Stockshill). The play brilliantly caught the feel of the ‘wheeling and dealing’ of a typical market stall - and had everyone laughing. Thank you Dosti!

For the rest of the morning we broke up into ‘workshops’ on multi-cultural issues, hearing voices and schizophrenia (thanks here to David Beck from the Hearing Voices group), a drumming and percussion group led by Teresa Driscoll, an arts group, and poetry with Rommi Smith.

Lunch was provided by Co-operative Cuisine and there was also a selection of food provided by Asian and Caribbean caterers. People not familiar with the unique design of Stockshill Day Centre had a chance to explore the building and to socialise with a very broad range of service users, carers and staff, from mental health services in the West Leeds area.

The afternoon began with a spectacular performance of Classical Indian dance from Jaymini Chauhan. Jaymini captivated a packed audience with the energy and vivacity of her dancing, and really stole the show. After Jaymini, we discussed some West Leeds Mental Health Forum business, and staff new to the area introduced themselves - including Neil Courtman, carers support worker. Teresa Driscoll on drums backed an interpretation of W.H Auden’s ‘Night Mail’ which also featured Johnny Solstice from Leeds Survivors’ Poetry. The day finished on a high note with an exuberant fashion show organised by staff and members of Stockshill.

Thank you to Gurpreet Gill for translating throughout the day (Hindi/English) and thank you to everyone at Stockshill for such a lovely day. Let’s hope we can all meet up again in October 2003!

Gerry Croft
West Leeds Mental Health Forum

Celebration of World Mental Health Day at the Newsham Centre

Arrived at 9am service users and reception staff were waiting in suspense to see what we had in store for them!

We had a stall promoting different aspects of mental health, particularly services in the East Leeds area. There was a good response all round, many people were interested. Service users that were currently on wards, those attending outpatients, carers, visitors, students, staff nurses, Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs), occupational therapists, psychiatrists, health care assistants, domestics, receptionists and workmen.

We were also honoured to have a visit from Nigel Fenney, Director of Mental Health Services. The stall was staffed on a rota basis and I was fortunate to be there all day. We had a good team with mixed skills, so all questions and queries were answered and people were pointed in the right direction for other requirements.

A few highlights: seeing a swarm of people coming and going in, out and around the Newsham centre all with the yellow mindOUT badges stuck on by us or others, we almost didn’t have enough! Children’s faces when they received a bright yellow balloon! People also liked the key rings.
People received a complimentary coffee or tea from Cafe Society. Some students visited and asked my views and opinions of World Mental Health Day; in my words “It was a day of everyone getting together and celebrating mental health in a positive, creative, meaningful way”.

A great success all round! Looking forward to 2003’s events. Thanks for the support of everyone involved.

Angela Peterson
East Leeds Tier 4 Service

World Mental Health Day Celebration, South Leeds Primary Care Trust

Using the Primary Care Trust’s Health Bus as a base, volunteers came from many organisations (MHT, Touchstone, Aire Court, Primary Care Trusts, the Vale Day Centre, the Intensive Home Treatment Team and the Survivor Led Crisis Centre) to raise awareness of mental health and mental health services in South Leeds.

The Health Bus, equipped with videos, artwork and information on mental health, parked in the car park of the Penny Hill Centre, Hunslet, in the morning and in the Morley Morrisons in the afternoon of Thursday the 10th October.

Local residents were encouraged to take part in a World Mental Health Day quiz, browse fact-sheets on mental health issues, collect information on local services and rest their feet for a few minutes by watching a video on the bus.

A wide range of people of all ages came to both locations. Issues included post-natal depression, anxiety, depression, stress, bereavement, eating disorders and support for individuals and carers with more severe and enduring mental illness. The event can be seen as a huge success in raising awareness of positive mental health and mental health services available through a range of agencies for the diverse population of South Leeds.

Gina Long, South Leeds Primary Care Trust

For information about World Mental Health Day 2001 Click here