Last week, we had the pleasure of helping to arrange the Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Programme events as part of the #WhatIf Project hosted by Wellbeing Connect Services who help children, young people, and families with specialist support services. The goal was to raise awareness of mental health and to show people that they do have a safe place in the local area to receive help for it. Music was played by DJMC, and people were encouraged to dance as a form of stress relieving therapy and have fun! Flyers were handed out offering tips that can help with feeling overwhelmed and provided was information of various emergency mental health contacts.
Our Youth Mentors, Jae Marcus and Portia Bilson attended both events helping out with raising awareness of the events through handing out flyers, making announcements and forwarding people to the right places so they can get the advice/help they may require.
“As senior youth mentor in ECP, it was good to get out there in the community to engage with the public to talk about mental health and wellness. Many people asked for my contact details as they knew a young person who needed mentoring. Sometimes just being a visual presence is enough to encourage somebody to seek help. We were also playing music to help create a friendly atmosphere as music can help through alleviating stress and create rapport.” – Jae Marcus | Senior Youth Mentor
“I had many interesting discussions with a variety of people. Some people spoke about their recent episodes, others spoke about the impact of living with someone with a mental illness and the recovery process. This provided me perspective and made me understand the importance of services like wellbeing connect service providing support to those who may feel alone.” – Portia Bilson | Youth Mentor
We asked the Director of Wellbeing Connect Services, Patricia Obichukwu for a quote on the event:
Why was the event organised?
“This event was organised as a tool for engaging the wider community to open the discussion on mental health. At least one in four adult’s experience mental health problems in any given year and one in six young people are also impacted by mental health issues. In addition, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people's emotional and mental wellbeing are increasing and many people do not know what to do or from where to seek help. Therefore, by holding mental health awareness events, it provides critical information to people and gave some individuals an opportunity to talk with key professionals at the events.”
Why is Mental Health Awareness important?
“Mental Health Awareness is very important to begin to address the issue of stigma attached to mental health and most especially within the BAME communities. In addition, it opens the opportunity for service providers such as mainstream services that were part of the events, to engage directly with the wider community in rebuilding relationships and trust.”
Thank you, Wellbeing Connect Services, for hosting these events and raising awareness around mental health within our community.
Learn About Wellbeing Connected Services and Check Out Our Video Here
