Liverpool World Mental Health Day
2015
Contents Liverpool World Mental Health Day 2015 Infographic
3
Section 1
Introduction, Aims & Objectives
3-5
Section 2
Event Planning & Promotion
5-9
2.1 Planning
5-6
2.2 Publicity & Marketing
7-8
2.3 Funding & Sponsorship
9
Programme
9 - 28
3.1 Williamson Square Festival
9 - 15
3.2 What did People Think?
15 - 17
3.3 ‘Dignity in Mental Health’ Art Exhibition
17 - 18
3.4 ‘Mental Health & Me’ Writing Competition
18 - 20
3.5 Volunteers
20 - 22
3.6 Black & Minority Ethnic Communities Event
22 - 23
Section 3
3.7 Drop-In Counselling & Mental Health First Aid Lite 23 - 26 3.8 Other Activities
Section 4
27 - 28
Promotion of Other World Mental Health Day Activities 28-32 4.1 Liverpool Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Partnership
29 - 31
4.2 PSS Activities
31 - 32
Section 5
Programme Outputs & Outcomes
32 - 34
Section 6
Recommendations
34 - 37
2|Page
3|Page
Section 1: Introduction World Mental Health Day is observed on 10th October by more than 100 countries & is supported by the United Nations & World Health Organisation. It aims to raise awareness of mental distress & promote positive wellbeing. Mental health difficulties can affect anyone, with 1 in 3 of us in Liverpool experiencing difficulties at some point in our lives. Despite this, people experiencing distress still face prejudice, discrimination & exclusion because of it. As an organisation that ensures that the voices of those experiencing mental distress can be heard, Liverpool Mental Health Consortium has coordinated World Mental Health Day events within Liverpool for the past 5 years. This report evaluates the mental health promotion & awareness work carried out in 2015, with funding from Public Health - Liverpool City Council, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group, Time to Change, PH Holt Foundation, & Merseyside Police.
Aims
To raise awareness of mental health services through the provision of information & signposting, workshops & training, public health & anti-stigma messages.
To enable those affected by mental distress to come together in order to reduce their social isolation, develop self-advocacy skills, & increase their confidence & self- esteem.
Objectives
Plan & deliver an all-day event in Williamson Square on 10th October including information, advice & signposting, musical & other creative performances & participatory activities that raise awareness of mental health & emotional wellbeing & challenge stigma & discrimination
Plan & deliver Circus Skills Workshops, a Comedy Night at the Brink, a participatory bunting-making workshop, & a film night at FACT
Plan & deliver a ‘Mental Health & Me’ Writing Competition, in partnership with Writing on the Wall
Plan & deliver ‘Dignity in Mental Health’ Art Exhibition
4|Page
Fund a BME Mental Health Seminar to be planned & delivered by Liverpool Community Development Service.
Part-fund Mental Health First Aid Lite Training for 220 individuals, delivered by Beacon Counselling Trust
Coordinate publicity about other events planned around World Mental Health Day
Section 2: Event Planning & Promotion 2.1 Planning This year, we were delighted to have the energetic & enthusiastic support of Nici Konigs-Balfry (Zest UK) as our Event Manager right from the start of our Liverpool World Mental Health Day 2015 planning process. Planning began in February 2015, with a Consultation event at The Florrie, open to everyone who was interested. We asked people what activities they would like to see in relation to:
Advice, Training & Information
Volunteers
Art/Performance
Diversity
Workshops/Participation
Neighbourhood events
The main activities to emerge from this process can be seen here:
5|Page
We also asked for people to sign up as Programme Leads & Coordinators for the various areas of activity. The group met frequently to plan & report on progress.
Coordinators: Claire Stevens/Sarah Butler-Boycott (Liverpool Mental Health Consortium)
Project Manager: Nici Konigs-Balfry (Zest UK)
Advice & Information: Maria Vaccarello/Debbie Nolan (South Liverpool CAB)
Art Exhibition Coordinator: Margaret Brown (Mersey Care NHS Trust)
BME Activities: Dee Abimbola (Liverpool Community Development Service)
Choir Coordinator: Kaya Herstad-Carney (Balance Vocal Studio)
Comedy Night: Liz Francis (Richmond Fellowship)
Mental Health & Me Coordinator: Chanel Scott-Jeffers (Writing on the Wall)
Mersey Care Activities: Christy White/Rebecca Kelly
Programming & Stage Management: Chris Carney (Threshold)
Volunteering: Steph Gregory (Liverpool Volunteer Centre)
Workshop Coordinator: Daniel Rogers (InFocus CIC)
Young People: Louise Wardale (Barnardo’s Action with Young Carers)
6|Page
2.2. Publicity & Marketing The Liverpool World Mental Health Day Logo was designed by Diane Bennett (Doris Cakes Cre8tes) & introduced at the consultation event, which meant that promotion via branding could begin much earlier than in previous years, resulting in wider coverage. Diane was also commissioned to design the event Brochure & Posters.
All events & activities were promoted via Liverpool Mental Health Consortium’s website, Twitter feed & Facebook page. Tweets for all activities used the hashtag #wmhdlpool so that partners could easily notice them & further promote. We also benefited from the addition of a dedicated Liverpool World Mental Health Day Blog, which was created & managed by Social Media volunteer, Pete Ryan: https://liverpoolwmhd2015.wordpress.com. Facebook & Twitter accounts both saw increased activity over the Liverpool World Mental Health Day period:
Facebook 04/10/2015 - 10/10/2015 Page Likes: 290 Total Page Likes 37 New Page Likes
Up 14.6% Up 825%
Post Reach 2,888 Total Reach 2,408 Post Reach
Up 1,336.8%from last week Up 2,382.5%
Engagement 192 People Engaged
Up 814.3%from last week
Twitter October 2015 Tweets 94 Tweet impressions 53.8K Profile visits 1,550 Mentions 190 Followers 708
Up 193.8% Up 208.0% Up 122.4% Up 187.9% Up 87
Posters & the full Programme/Brochure were available well in advance in both hard copy & online via LMHC website: http://www.liverpoolmentalhealth.org/liverpool7|Page
world-mental-health-day-2015-full-programme/ & on Issuu: http://issuu.com/liverpoolmentalhealthconsortium/docs/wmhd_programme_for_issuu/ 1 Partnership with City Central BID also resulted in the activities having their own trail on www.thisliverpool.com & also on the ThIS Liverpool App: Apple Store - https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/thisliverpool/id918499559?mt=8 Google Play (Android) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=apposing.ThISLiverpool For the first time, we also had billboard posters for the Williamson Square event distributed throughout Liverpool city centre.
Many of our events, as well as those of partner organisations, had individual invite & booking information on EventBrite. A very successful partnership was forged with local marketing & publicity agency One Fell Swoop, who did much to disseminate activities to a wider population, particularly the Art Exhibition.
We promoted as many of the events as possible through a BBC Radio Merseyside slot on the Sean Styles show. You can hear Claire’s 8 minute spot on Liverpool’s World Mental Health Day programme here: https://youtu.be/rema15Xn00w
8|Page
2.3. Funding & Sponsorship We were fortunate to procure funding for this year’s activities from 6 sources: Public Health (Liverpool City Council), Time to Change, Mersey Care NHS Trust, Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group, PH Holt Foundation, & Merseyside Police. Following recommendations from last year’s report, sponsorship documents were prepared & sponsorship from businesses actively pursued. Meetings were arranged with interested individuals representing a range of businesses. A briefing event, hosted by Lord Mayor Tony Concepcion, was held in June 2015 in Liverpool Town Hall & was attended by 49 organisations. Whilst these activities resulted in creating useful links with organisations not previously engaged in our work, we were not successful in gaining business sponsorship & we will, therefore, review this strategy in relation to funding for future events.
We were, however, pleased to attract sponsorship in kind from local businesses; American Pizza Slice, who provided free pizza slices for all our volunteers on 10th October, & Corvus Security, who provided event security on Williamson Square. For the first time, this year we took the decision to charge some stallholders for having a presence on Williamson Square on 10th October. We used a sliding scale to ensure that larger or statutory organisations paid proportionally more than smaller voluntary or community groups. Service user-led groups were not charged a fee. This arrangement proved successful, & we had more stallholders in the Square this year than in previous years. Indeed, demand was such that we were unable to accommodate every organisation which applied for a place.
Section 3: Programme 3.1 Williamson Square Festival The Williamson Square Festival, this year opened by Lord Mayor Tony Concepcion & Luciana Berger MP, is perhaps the most visible of the Liverpool World Mental Health Day activities. It highlighted World Mental Health Day itself on 10th October which, this year, fell on a Saturday. Everything was planned on a larger scale than in previous years, using more of the Square to accommodate a greater number of organisations & activities, a larger stage, & a far greater visible presence. 28 different organisations 9|Page
were on the Square on the day, alongside 12 performance acts, the Freefall Circus marquee, & the Big Brew tent. Data from Liverpool BID (Business Improvement District) Company shows that footfall on the Square was 27,415 (having been 16,106 the previous Saturday) &, with all organisations working in partnership, the tally counters showed that we had 13,040 conversations with the public, arranged 392 follow-up appointments, & served 2004 free cups of tea.
Threshold were our programming & stage management partner for the 3 rd year, with performances coordinated by Chris Carney & expert compering from Angie Waller & Ian Hayes (Impropriety). As we’ve come to expect, Threshold provided a diverse creative centre-piece for the event, with performances from Barking up the Wrong Tree, Blunderbuss & Badger, Dominic Dunn, Choir with No Name, Impropriety, Indigo Vibe, La Bomba, Mazury, Mersey Wylie, & Movema. The programme was very wellreceived, & benefited from the use of a larger stage than in previous years.
10 | P a g e
The grand finale of the Williamson Square event was The Big Choir Off – an ambitious effort to bring together as many choirs as possible to celebrate World Mental Health Day in Liverpool. This was made possible through the outstanding efforts of Threshold & Kaya Herstad-Carney (Balance Vocal Studio) who attracted 17 choirs to participate, rehearsed them & led the performance of Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher by Jackie Wilson & Happy by Pharrell Williams. Certainly a finale to be proud of!
Archbishop Beck Chamber Choir - Big Love Sista - Choir With No Name - Halewood Community Choir - Hip & Harmony - Hope Street Harmonies - Indigo Vibe - Liverpool LGBT Choir - Liverpool Signing Choir - Mersey Voices in Harmony - Moving On With Life & Learning - Pop Vox - Raucous Caucus Recovery Chorus - Up For Arts - Voice Pop Wallasey Choir - What We Did Next Choir
11 | P a g e
Many of the organisations, alongside giving advice & information, also provided a range of interactive activities for people to get involved with, such as PSS’ ‘What Keeps Me Healthy’ Tipping Tree, CAMHS partners’ balloon release & Healthwatch’s #nameonething board.
Community Sounding Report - Airing your Views The University of Liverpool’s Mental Health in Context Research Group provided activities related to their Prosocial Place Programme on Williamson Square. This involved the use of an airing line & comments box for people to express their views about place & community. People were asked for their response to 3 questions:
What makes a good place?
What do you like about where you live?
Where do you go to feel better?
The comments box was used for people to post their views on the question: ‘Where’s your Dismaland?’
What makes a good place?
Community spirit, good people & neighbourliness: 27% ‘A place where I feel welcome & loved’ ‘People who smile at strangers’
Nature & green/open space: 17%
12 | P a g e
‘Lots of green spaces’ ‘Pleasant bike rides’
Clean living environment 14% Less litter - more concern about your area - well-kept – light - fresh air - no noise - no traffic
Good amenities & services: 12% Local shops - easy to get where I need to be - a high street - good bus route community centres - good shops - sheltered accommodation
Personal relaxation/safety: 9% ‘Private and comfortable’ ‘Somewhere you can be yourself’
Family & friends: 6%
Diversity & equality: 6%
What do you like about where you live?
Community spirit, good people & neighbourliness: 25% ‘Nearly every house has kids who play out on the street’ ‘Community & friendly faces’ ‘I love living in Liverpool, going out & meeting people’ ‘People - humour, honesty, grit & passion’
Nature & green/open space 23%: ‘Squirrels in the garden’ ‘Being close to the park’
Tranquillity: 13% ‘I like the quietness & hope it will get even better’ ‘It makes me relax & I love living there’
Good amenities & services 11%
Family & friends: 9%
Prosocial acts: 5% Nobody litters; everyone re-cycles; we share milk
13 | P a g e
Where do you go to feel better?
Nature & green/open space 24%: ‘To watch the sunset in Thursaston’ ‘To see trees, lakes, wildlife, plants, rivers, flowers’ ‘Parks are the lungs of the city. Hands off!’
Family & friends: 22% ‘To my family & friends & to people who are positive’ ‘Having a nice cup of coffee with a friend’
Hobbies/diversions: 18% ‘Take my dog for walk around the city (it makes me happy to see my dog happy)’ ‘My bedroom to read’
Faith: 12%
Clubs/Pubs/Amenities: 10%
City places: 6%
Familiar/comfortable places: 10%
Where’s Your Dismaland?
Aspects/features of city living 38%: Traffic jams; Multi-storey car parks; Crowded shops; People walking slowly; Where everything is grey; By my house - there is too much crime; Birmingham City Centre; Anywhere with massive slow-moving crowds; Self-service checkouts; Green Lane - the most dismal road in Merseyside; Hospitals.
Matters of governance/ politics: 28% Parliament - University of Liverpool! - Globalised, commodified anything - City of Westminster - Primark
Being alone: 10%
An altered state 7%:
Antisocial: 7%
14 | P a g e
Across all 3 ‘airing line’ questions, the most frequently referred to positive aspects of place focussed on community spirit /good people & public open space assets. Typically, these views made up half of all views expressed - approximately quarter each. The data gathered using this informal polling method is consistent with the notion that social sustainability & community wellbeing exist & are derived in both social spaces & physical places. Clearly, the people who expressed their views cherish & value these social & living environment assets & understand their value very well. Consistent with evidence about the negative effects of city living on mental health & wellbeing, 38% of views expressed in relation to the question Where’s your Dismaland?’ referred to presumably stressful or depressing aspects of city living. Matters of governance or politics, referring to the state of modern global or Western living, made up a further 28% of these answers.
Although it is undoubtedly the case that some of the more nuanced responses to the questions we asked reflect the nature of the event of which this activity was a part (i.e. Liverpool World Mental Health Day), our findings point to clear conclusions. The future of socially sustainable places, characterised by high wellbeing, rests on our ability to design, develop & manage the infrastructure & assets of the living environment in ways that facilitate natural social interactions & the development of community spirit.
3.2 What Did People Think of the Williamson Square Event?
Stallholders, when asked what they liked best about the event, stated: ‘Finding out about all the different services; meeting new people; seeing our service users support our work’ ‘Varied acts; good set-up; good feel about the day’ ‘Warmth, carnival atmosphere, massive attendance’ ‘Busy, general buzz, everyone enjoying themselves, eagerness for information’ ‘Lively & friendly, lots of chat, clear enthusiasm, real sense of stigmabusting’ ‘Very organised, welcoming’ 15 | P a g e
‘Meeting & talking to so many people, well organised, great variety of stalls/events/activities, well done!’
Comments from members of the public on Williamson Square were positive. 65 members of the public told us what they liked best about the event, with a quarter of all respondents liking the music best, 19% the advice available, 15% the information, 14% the dance acts, 11% the comedy aspects, 9% the circus skills marquee, & 7% some other aspect of the programme
WILLIAMSON SQUARE: WHAT DID YOU LIKE MOST? Other 7%
Advice 19%
Music 25%
Information 15%
Circus Skills 9% Comedy 11% Dance 14%
95% of people who responded said they had learned something about mental health & wellbeing, with comments including: ‘How to tackle it & who to go to’ ‘Sharing, information & great help’ ‘It’s been great learning about different agencies & meeting great people. Being here is good!’ ‘Services available in Liverpool’
Some of the social media responses after the event included: ‘@Zest_uk @liverpoolmhc Such a great day, & some really positive coverage! We spoke to & advised so many people!’
16 | P a g e
‘HUGE thanks to @liverpoolmhc, @Zest_uk & everyone else for a fantastic #wmhdlpool’ ‘Congratulations Liverpool Mental Health Consortium on a fantastic World Mental Health Day!’
3.3 ‘Dignity in Mental Health’ Art Exhibition The art exhibition ran from Friday 9th October - Sunday 11th October in Unit 51/Baltic Creative. Margaret Brown (Mersey Care NHS Trust) worked extremely hard as the coordinator for this, & benefited from the support of Ben Youdan & Cate Simmons, & particularly Jazamin Sinclair who curated the exhibition & designed the catalogue. All of this resulted in 19 individual artists being able to show their work. The work submitted for the exhibition was of a very high standard & the exhibition itself was extremely successful.
We were delighted that The Singh Twins accepted our invite to launch the Exhibition. London-born twin sisters Amrit & Rabindra are contemporary British artists of international standing whose award-winning paintings have been acknowledged as constituting a unique genre in British Art, & for initiating a new movement in the revival of the Indian miniature tradition within modern art practice. Having them to open the exhibition was a really positive experience for the artists, who had the opportunity to talk to the Singh Twins & show them their work.
Any fears that we were too far away from the main event to attract visitors proved groundless, as Unit 51 has such a high footfall. Tally counters were used to record attendance, with the exhibition attracting 220 visitors. Excellent feedback was received from visitors to the exhibition, with many comments recorded in the visitors’ book. At least 3 visitors were moved to tears by one particular art work & the exhibition certainly seemed to do its job of challenging stigma. ‘A fantastic exhibition with such powerful pieces. It’s really great to see a platform for this sort of work and so brave of people to put their work out there! Would love to see more exhibitions like this please!’ - Kate 17 | P a g e
‘Fantastic exhibition, run by a fantastic group of people. You also get the chance the meet the artists! Brilliant! The Baltic Triangle wants you back in 2016!!’ - Mark Lawler, Chair - Baltic Triangle Area CIC
‘We were so proud to be part of the 'Dignity in Mental Health' Exhibition for World Mental Health Day last weekend! It was a fantastic Event!’ - Creative Alternatives
You can see the Exhibition Catalogue here: http://issuu.com/liverpoolmentalhealthconsortium/docs/dignity_in_mental_health
~ Margaret Brown ~
3.4 Mental Health & Me Writing Competition & Event This year, in partnership with Writing on the Wall (WoW), we held a writing competition to mark World Mental Health Day for the second year, inviting people to send an original written response to the expression ‘Mental Health & Me’. Chanel Scott-Jeffers from WoW coordinated all aspects of the competition. Along with categories for poetry, short stories, diary piece or blog post, letters, journalism, & tweets, a 7th category was added for spoken word entries. The hope was that it could challenge the stigma around 18 | P a g e
mental distress by giving entrants the opportunity to explore the theme of mental health using traditional &/or alternative forms of writing. A judging panel was drawn up, comprised of professional writers, booksellers, librarians, & people with personal experience of mental distress - so a big thank you is due to Wendy Brown, Abi Inglis, Rosa Murdoch, Curtis Watt, Levi Tafari, Ronnie Hughes, Richard Adamson, Sarah Maclennan, Sal Woodward, Maria Ng, Tony Wailey, Gemma Rogers, Clare Coombes, James Rice, Catherine Jones and Brian Reade. The winners of each category formed the shortlist from which the overall winner was selected. The competition received 100 entries.
A winner & 2 runners-up per category had their work published in an anthology & the opportunity to read their work at a celebratory event held on 8 th October at Central Library. We were delighted to have the first ever Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Luciana Berger MP with us to say a few words, as well Councillors Claire Glare & Gary Millar at the event to present some of the awards. Rapper, Singer-Songwriter, Stephen Manderson aka Professor Green announced the overall winner of Mental Health & Me in person. Professor Green is a patron of male suicide prevention charity, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). With the death of his father in 2010, as well as his own personal battles with depression & anxiety, preventing male suicide & encouraging young men to open up about their mental health issues is a cause close to his heart. Professor Green has talked about his own demons & his father’s suicide in several of his songs, including Lullaby, Goodnight & Read All About It. The fact that Professor Green was there in person to announce the overall winner created a great buzz. The overall winner this year was 81-year-old Pat Fearon, from the spoken word category, with her piece The Edge. ‘Many thanks for the email you sent me yesterday. I am over the moon to be selected. It means a great deal to me. I have been writing since I was 15 years old, but rarely share what comes out. This is the first time I have ever entered a competition & it’s brilliant to know the judges were able to see something in my short poem. It is greatly appreciated, especially as things have been so difficult over the last few years… Thank you for your kindness & for giving people the opportunity to share their experiences & feelings with others in such a tangible way.’ 19 | P a g e
‘Congrats to all who took part in the @wowfest @liverpoolmhc MHAM writing comp. So many inspiring contributions.’
‘Inspiring event tonight @liverpoolmhc I can't wait to get you talking to @TrustEllie’
‘@liverpoolmhc It was such an amazing event, I don't feel so alone tonight. @wowfest @Liverpoollib Thank you to you all.’
You can watch a video of the event here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Ek9Sd1dNE&feature=youtu.be
You can order a hard copy of the anthology by emailing: info@writingonthewall.org.uk
3.5 Volunteers World Mental Health Day events in previous years used only members of Liverpool Mental Health Consortium’s Service User Group as volunteers. Due to the far greater number of activities taking place this year, more volunteers were needed than previously. The volunteering opportunity was promoted through LMHC’s networks, social media, & partner organisations - particularly Volunteer Centre Liverpool who did 20 | P a g e
a tremendous job of attracting potential volunteers - & was successful in attracting 21 volunteers, all of whom were very enthusiastic & did a wonderful job. All volunteers were invited to a Briefing where they were given information about the World Mental Health Day activities, Health & Safety guidance, & the roles available. Placement of volunteers was then allocated based on the times they were available & the venues they preferred to work in. Feedback received from volunteers indicated that they had generally enjoyed their roles & were glad that they had volunteered. ‘Unit 51 was a fantastic venue & staff very helpful. Really enjoyed the day. Have always felt that art is an excellent means of connecting with people. Lots of fabulous conversations &, finally, I bought one of the paintings! Happy to do the same next year.’ ‘Thank you LMHC & all the brilliant volunteers for organising such a fantastic festival with so many diverse & interesting things for all to be involved in. I had an excellent time with everything I engaged with. I don't recall ever seeing a WMHD festival anywhere in the country of this size. In fact, if you Google 'World Mental Health Day Festival 2015' worldwide, most of the page is Liverpool! Loved the whole day itself but my special favourite was the Playhouse Takeover.’ ‘The festival went beyond all expectations of what a World Mental Health Day celebration could look like. I still have the programme in my bag & brandish it at any decision-makers connected with mental health in Wirral! The day itself was spectacular & I spoke to a wide cross section of people who were interested in mental health.’ ‘I thought it was a great day in Williamson Square - I was busy all day & I had some really meaningful conversations with the public around mental health. When asking the public to fill in the evaluation book, everyone that I spoke to said they had gained a lot of valuable information from the stalls. Happy to help out in the future.’
21 | P a g e
‘The only thing I want to say is how nice it was to be in an environment where mental health wasn't a taboo. The atmosphere of the day was encouraging.’
3.6 Black & Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities Event: Take Control of Your Wellbeing, 19th October 2015, Liverpool Community Development Service This event, organised by Liverpool’s Community Development Worker Team, was held at the Kuumba Imani Millennium Centre with the aim of raising awareness of mental health issues. About 60 people attended the event, with members of the Black African, Pakistani, Chinese, Iranian, & other Arabic communities, actively participating in the day. There was also good representation of refugees & people seeking asylum. We were able to use an interpreter for some of the attendees who did not speak English as their first language.
Aims of the event:
Raise awareness of issues affecting the mental health of the BME population
Support people who have experienced mental health problems & inform them of available help
Promote art & dance as a therapeutic activity
Promote an understanding & awareness of depression & anxiety
Explore ways of tackling stigma within BME communities
Raise awareness about the 5 Ways to Wellbeing
The half-day event included presentations & activities to ensure that people had a chance to participate & be involved & engaged during the day:
Brief introduction to Liverpool Community Development Service (LCDS) - Mo Taher
Depression & Anxiety - Jennifer Randell (Talk Liverpool)
Experience of Seeking Asylum, Mental Health & Recovery - Gilbert
Small group discussion on tackling stigma - Dee Abimbola
Dance Exercise - Merseyside Dance Initiative.
Advocacy - Alex Coombes (LCDS)
22 | P a g e
Time Banking - Rod Leung (Richmond Fellowship)
The 5 Ways to Wellbeing - Afrah Qassim (LCDS)
Art Therapy & Sola Arts - Nasrin (Sola Arts)
Next Steps The issue of stigma & how to tackle it was the main area of discussion during the event, & many participants expressed a desire to hold a similar event as a road show in other parts of Liverpool, in particular in areas where BME communities are not as visible, such as North of Liverpool. Participants also suggested that events like this should be held more regularly. We will, therefore, look for ways to repeat the event in other areas of Liverpool in order to encourage discussion about mental health in BME communities & to improve community cohesion.
~ Mo Taher, Liverpool Community Development Service ~
3.7 Drop-In Counselling & Mental Health First Aid Lite Training - Beacon Counselling Trust
Counselling Building on our work from 2014 World Mental Health Day activities, combined with the evidence generated from Time to Talk Day in February, it was clear that the provision of a drop-in counselling service would be of additional benefit to the training package & mental health awareness raising that Beacon had provided in the past & help to engage with some of the problems that the residents of Liverpool are facing from a mental health perspective, where often that immediate benefit of early intervention would be well received. Discussions in the run-up to the World Mental Health Day event pointed to the fact that, where community-wide awareness raising of mental health issues is carried out, there are often individuals that need someone to talk to, on a professional basis, at that point. For this year’s activity, we agreed to pilot that provision.
23 | P a g e
The drop-in provision was available at the Health Information Centre on Hanover Street on Saturday 10th October, & continued for the following week at Beacon Counselling in Clubmoor, along with sessions at Alt Valley Community Trust. The counselling service offered a way of receiving support at difficult or stressful times for those people who do not necessarily wish to register for ongoing counselling. They had the opportunity to discuss whatever problems or issues were causing them difficulties with a qualified counsellor. Whilst this was not a full counselling session, it provided individuals with space & time to consider how their problems are affecting them & possible ways forward. If, after this session, they feel that ongoing counselling would be helpful, they can then choose to access a number of pathways.
Over the week, across all locations, 40 individuals took up the offer of the free counselling service via the drop-in, with 28 taking up the offer to attend further support interventions.
Mental Health First Aid Lite Training Also as part of World Mental Health Day activities, we delivered the nationally accredited Mental Health First Aid Lite 4-hour training course to 172 participants (delivered between Beacon Counselling & the Alt Valley Community Trust sites), with an additional course for 30 people laid on for 18th January taking the total to 202. By combining The New Economics Foundation model of The 5 Ways to Wellbeing with the Mental Health First Aid training, a cost-effective platform was used to upskill those who attended in a practical way, whilst at the same time delivering a set of evidencebased actions that individuals can promote in their workplaces & community environments. The aims of the course were to:
Raise public awareness of mental health & wellbeing, & identify & challenge the discrimination overshadowing mental health problems
Define mental health & some of the issues faced by people
Provide information & education on how to support people with mental health problems
Provide practical information & experience on how to improve wellbeing, promote a spirit of inclusion, & look after their own mental health
24 | P a g e
All individuals attending the course were asked to fill in a questionnaire asking the following questions:
On a scale of 1-10, please score your personal confidence of how best to support others with a mental health problem before & after the course (where 0 is the lowest & 10 the highest)
How would you rate the instructors?
How would you rate the exercises?
How would you rate the presentation/film clips by those with experience of mental health problems?
Did you learn anything which might change your approach when working with people with mental health problems &, if so, how?
Do you have any other comments?
The outcome of this evaluation indicated the following:
Over 95% of the attendees showed more than a 3-point movement in their personal confidence.
100% indicated that instructors were good or very good
100% indicated that exercises were good or very good
100% indicated that the presentations & film clips were good or very good
Over 95% of individuals learnt something positive which would change their approach when working with people with mental health problems
Over 80% indicated how worthwhile the course was & that they would like to progress with their learning in this area.
The Five Ways to Wellbeing was an especially popular element of the course with participants embracing the simplicity of the model with the overwhelming view that they would attempt to engage with the model personally and, ultimately, promote the model in their workplace.
25 | P a g e
Conclusions & Recommendations Both the Drop-In Counselling service & the Mental Health First Aid Lite Training were extremely well received by all who attended the sessions. Some of the comments about both provisions were: ‘The opportunity to be able to talk to someone at that moment helped me so much.’ ‘The fact that I could just walk into somewhere & get help was brilliant, thank you so much.’ ‘I went straight from my GP to Beacon in just over an hour; it was brilliant.’ ‘The course was so interesting & has helped me so much with understanding the problems some members of my family have been experiencing.’ ‘Great course, would definitely recommend it.’ ‘This course should be taught in schools & to young people to make them aware, from an early age, the issues around mental health.’
It is recommended that next year we again build on successes & have both of these provisions integral to our World Mental Health Day activities in Liverpool.
~ Neil Platt, Beacon Counselling Trust ~
26 | P a g e
3.8 Other Activities Feeling Funny Comedy Night Liz Francis (Richmond Fellowship) coordinated the comedy night, in partnership with The Comedy Trust. The Comedy Trust have been running Feeling Funny courses for men over the past year, giving participants the chance to write & perform their own comedy routines. The aim is to increase their mental wellbeing & confidence, whilst also encouraging them to talk more openly about mental health. This event, held at The Brink, showcased a selection of the participants from those courses, offering a diverse range of styles & routines. Free tickets for the night ‘sold out’ on Eventbrite & more needed to be issued, with at least 60 people attending. Feedback from audience members indicated that the event was very popular & it was suggested that events like it be held more often.
Bunting & Sign-Making Workshop The Lantern Company, creators of amazing & memorable events, & Richmond Fellowship came together to offer a workshop where participants would create signs & decoration for the marquees on Williamson Square on World Mental Health Day. The workshop, held at The Casa, attracted approx. 10 people who really enjoyed the activity & created some fabulous bunting for the Square.
Freefall Circus Workshops Freefall Circus delivered 3 1-hour workshops at The Florrie, offering participants the opportunity to try out diablo, static trapeze & aerial hoop in a non-competitive environment. The workshops were aimed at beginners, with introductory activities that aid concentration, confidence & communication.
Film Night at FACT We partnered with FACT for a showing of Little Miss Sunshine, an Oscar-winning comedy about the ‘issue’-ridden Hoover family that proved to be a big hit with dysfunctional families everywhere. 50 free tickets were offered for pre-booking, & approx. 46 people were in the audience on the night. Before the main feature, we showed some short films by & about local people who use mental health support
27 | P a g e
services: Lost Narratives by Jacqui Priestley, Cabbage by Stephen Sheehan & a BME Dementia Champions film by The Hatch. ‘Mind Matters’ Screening In conjunction with Bay TV & Edge Hill University, we produced a TV feature - ‘Mind Matters’ - especially for Liverpool World Mental Health Day 2015. An outspoken panel of experts, led by well-known presenter Liam Fogarty, discussed local contemporary issues on the subject of mental health & wellbeing. The panel comprised of Andy Kerr (Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group), Cllr Claire Glare (Liverpool City Council Mental Health Champion), Jake Mills (Stand-Up Comedian, Writer, Broadcaster & Survivor), Monique Collier (Young People’s Advisory Service), & Professor Peter Kinderman (University of Liverpool). The programme was aired 3 times over the World Mental Health Day period on Bay TV.
Section 4: Promotion of other World Mental Health Day Activities The following activities, planned & provided by other organisations, were also promoted through the event brochure & social media, & were integral to Liverpool’s World Mental Health Day celebrations:
28 | P a g e
4.1 Liverpool CAMHS Partnership The work carried out by Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) partners this year to support Liverpool World Mental Health Day builds on the involvement of previous years, but has taken things to a new level. There was a great deal of enthusiasm & support from both professionals & young people, & there is already anticipation about next year’s events. The wide range of activities delivered meant that there was something for everyone. Events included:
6th October: Open Space Event at the Women’s Organisation
8th October: Make A Noise About Mental Health Open Mic Night at MYA
10th October: Interactive Stall on Williamson Square
10th October: Fun With Food For Wellbeing at MYA
10th October: Young Person’s Advisory Service Open Day
Open Mic Night at Merseyside Youth Association (MYA)
Hosted by the CAMHS Partnership & the Noise Project at MYA, this event had a great turn out, with approximately 60 people attending from the CAMHS Partnership, SPACE & Noise project, schools across the city, & members of the general public. ‘All the acts were absolutely amazing, with a mix of singers, spoken word acts, bands, young people playing instruments, & the atmosphere was electric with people dancing in the crowds & young people supporting each other throughout the entire evening - even asking when the next one would be!’ said Leigh Horner.
Volunteers at the CAMHS stall on Williamson Square did a great job in signposting people to events at the Quaker Meeting House, the Black-E & elsewhere. Our stall looked inviting & colourful with the Inspire Bunting, & engagement activities including Balloons, the Hang a Duck, & Washing Lines on the stall & across the main Marquee. We had service information covering the whole CAMHS offer & had many conversations with people of all ages - In total, we had 1434 contacts!!! It was generally agreed that Saturday is a great day to hold the main event as it allows more engagement of young people & families.
29 | P a g e
Merseyside Youth Association’s Fun with Food for Wellbeing featured an afternoon of engaging activities for parents, carers, children & young people aged 5-14. Whilst parents & carers enjoyed free workshops featuring relaxation techniques, as well as offering advice for wellbeing, children & young people took part in a range of activities, including art & craft, music & drama, & interactive cooking sessions. Leigh Horner, participation worker at MYA, stated: ‘The afternoon was a huge success, promoting positive physical & mental health to parents & children’. The school competition to design ‘Inspire’ cards was a great success, with 31 designs being selected. A design was featured (via social media & other promotion) every day of October, & copies of the cards were released on World Mental Health Day at the Williamson Square event attached to balloons. These have been found as far afield as Leeds!
Having Addvanced Solutions based at The Black-E on the day was a great addition to the programme and meant that individuals/families seeking support around issues such as ASD and ADHD could be immediately signposted towards help. You can watch a video of the event here: https://vimeo.com/145164358 CAMHS partners also had a stall at the City of Liverpool College, & The Everyman & Playhouse’s Long Table debate was a big hit with all who attended.
~ Sally Edgar & Louise Wardale ~
30 | P a g e
4.2 PSS Activities PSS Wellbeing centres were delighted to join in the celebrations by inviting visitors to their stall to share their tips for ‘What Keeps Me Healthy?’ on a Tipping Tree. Over 200 people contributed all sorts of wonderful ideas from ‘spending time with friends’ & ‘volunteering’ to ‘being creative’ & ‘singing in the shower’. As a result, the Wellbeing Centres have had at least 4 new referrals.
The Wellbeing Centres drama group, PSS Creatives, also participated in the day by appearing in an interactive tour of the Playhouse theatre called ‘The Playhouse Takeover’. During this, they showcased a multimedia installation & performed a variety of thought-provoking pop-up sketches & poems that confronted issues around mental health stigma. These performances were incredibly well received by audiences, with many people afterwards tweeting their enjoyment of the pieces. You can see the slideshow that was an integral part of the performance here, created by the incredibly talented Marc Fraser, here: https://youtu.be/oty79SKB4xc ‘@LivEveryPlay @liverpoolmhc @PSSpeople It's hard to describe the elation after taking part.’
31 | P a g e
‘The Playhouse take over was fabulous - especially the short pieces by service users, Marc's installation, & the funnier pieces, though the dance pieces were a little difficult to understand & quite serious.’
Section 5: Programme Outputs & Outcomes Objectives were met by delivering all of the planned events & activities:
An all-day Williamson Square Festival on 10th October including information, advice & signposting, musical & other creative performances & participatory activities
3 x 1-hour Circus Skills Workshops
A Comedy Night at the Brink
A participatory Bunting & Sign-making workshop
A film night at FACT
‘Mental Health & Me’ Writing Competition & Awards event, in partnership with Writing on the Wall
Mental Health & Me Anthology produced
3-day ‘Dignity in Mental Health’ Art Exhibition, including Launch event
32 | P a g e
Funding of a BME Mental Health Seminar, delivered by Liverpool Community Development Services
Part-funding of Mental Health First Aid Lite Training, delivered by Beacon Counselling Trust
Publicity & promotion coordinated for World Mental Health Day events across the city, including those from partner organisations
Mind Matters programme for Bay TV, broadcast 3 times
A total of 48 separate events to celebrate World Mental Health Day in Liverpool were publicised & promoted to the public. Publicity included:
Logo & branding to bring all events together under the Liverpool World Mental Health Day banner
Coordinating content & design of full Brochure of events
A3 & Billboard posters for Williamson Square Festival
Coordinating content & design for BAMER services leaflet
Separate design & promotion for Mental Health & Me competition
Dignity in Mental Health Art Exhibition catalogue
Social media: Facebook & Twitter coverage for all events #wmhdlpool
Partnership with One Fell Swoop
Partnership with Liverpool BID to produce trail on www.thisliverpool.com & ThIS Liverpool App
Promotion on BBC Radio Merseyside
We attracted high profile guests for the Art Exhibition & Writing Competition The Singh Twins & Professor Green respectively
All events were promoted by Liverpool World Mental Health Day Ambassadors, Cllrs Gary Millar & Claire Glare
The Williamson Square Festival & Mental Health & Me competition were supported by Lord Mayor Tony Concepcion & Luciana Berger MP
Public awareness & understanding of mental health was raised, both through the promotion of the programme & through the public’s engagement with activities. The activities ensured that individuals who use mental health services & other members of 33 | P a g e
the general public affected by mental distress are more confident in expressing themselves & feel less isolated, both through opportunities to participate in activities & through delivering activities: The Williamson Square Festival provided advice & information from 28 different services/organisations, had a footfall of 27,415, & tally counters used by volunteers & stallholders showed that we had 13,040 conversations with members of the public. As well as information & advice on the day, 392 follow-up appointments with services were arranged. Of those who responded (65 people), 95% said they had learned something about mental health & wellbeing Through the drop-in counselling sessions offered, 40 people will be taking up counselling appointments with Beacon Counselling Trust 202 people participated in Mental Health First Aid Lite training 100 people entered the Mental Health & Me writing competition 19 people exhibited art at Unit 51 for Dignity in Mental Health, with 220 people visiting the Art Exhibition 21 people volunteered at events People with experience of mental distress were prominent in developing, delivering, & participating in activities, including involving in the Consultation event, entering the writing competition, exhibiting art, performing in the Playhouse, & volunteering their time & skills.
Section 6: Recommendations Process, Promotion & Publicity
The consultation event at The Florrie worked well in generating ideas, giving people ownership, & involving a diverse range of individuals & organisations, & should be retained.
Stall Booking forms for Williamson Square Festival to be completed by midJune in future
Points to add to Stall Booking Form: Information on selection process if oversubscribed The need for cleaning of stall space by the stallholder
34 | P a g e
Provide a form for activity/event planners to complete for inclusion in the Brochure, including: title, venue, date, number of characters/word count
Brochure copy to be completed by mid-June in future
Use Mailchimp rather than a Distribution list to keep people updated - it looks more professional & can be branded
Ensure that all events/activities featuring in the Brochure use the Liverpool World Mental Health Day logo & branding in both promotion & media coverage.
It would be useful to produce separate posters for some of the activities - The Art Exhibition, for example, would have benefited from this.
We need to consider how best to disseminate brochures & posters given that LMHC staff are out of the office for much of the run-up to World Mental Health Day.
This year’s Sponsorship campaign was unsuccessful & therefore needs to be reviewed.
Williamson Square
Arrange for bin bags/rubbish to be taken away at the end of the day
Marquee: The larger marquee offered much more space for organisations. Moving all organisation’s banners to the sides of the marquee was a good idea, which we should use for future years.
The first year of the Big Choir-Off went surprisingly well! If this is repeated, it may be improved by reducing the length of time choir members had to wait on the Square itself, having the massed choirs facing out to the audience; & ensuring that the Signing Choir are on the stage so that they can be seen by the audience.
Freefall Circus Tent: It became apparent that a sizeable number of parents left their children at the tent to go off elsewhere. As a safeguarding issue, this may have implications for public liability - If used in future, we may want to have a sign asking parents/carers to remain with their children.
All stallholders returned their tally counters, which meant that we had accurate numbers of conversations, but we may need to find a better way of gaining more narrative evaluation as stallholders were reluctant to fill in the forms.
35 | P a g e
More members of the public filled in the evaluation than in previous years. Placing stickers on statements they agreed with elicited a larger response than the opportunity to make comments & should be noted for future years.
Mental Health & Me Writing Competition
Although 100 individuals entered the competition, this was less than last year, so the concept & promotion may need to be refreshed.
Due to feedback from one participant, we may need to make the fact that shortlisted entries will be published in an anthology more prominent in the competition information
The awards event benefited hugely from the addition of readers being rehearsed, as more people were willing to read their work.
The possibility of delivering writing workshops prior to the competition will be considered
Dignity in Mental Health Art Exhibition
Book venue(s) as soon as possible
Provide a Submission Form, to include: artist name, title of piece, microbiography
Submission Information needs to specify: Artists from Liverpool/Merseyside Artwork needs to be delivered & picked up Insurance disclaimer
A separate flyer/poster would have made the exhibition easier to promote
Despite a press release being sent out, media coverage of the launch with the Singh Twins was absent, & this needs improving for future years.
Other Activities
A few of the activities had low numbers attending & will need to be reviewed Shelter & CAB Drop-Ins at the library, the Bunting & Sign-Making Workshop, & the Freefall Circus workshops. It should be noted, however, that all of these
36 | P a g e
received positive feedback from those attending, & the bunting produced to dress Williamson Square was very effective & can be used in future years.
The Film Night at FACT was well-attended & received. It may be worth considering the possibility of making our own short film in the run-up to next year’s activities to show before the main feature. An after-film discussion might also work well.
The Feeling Funny Comedy Night was a success & The Brink was full. For any future comedy events, however, particularly for novice comedians, the venue needs to be thought about more carefully & the MC briefed on the event’s role in the World Mental Health Day programme.
Mind Matters Debate Filming: Filming this debate proved to be a huge learning curve for us! Although the finished programme had positive feedback & provided a vehicle for raising public awareness of mental health, it was not entirely as we planned i.e. the idea of a ‘Question Time’ style debate was lost & the audience left wondering when they might be able to participate. If anything similar is planned again, we will need to be much more proactive in the production process.
Further Suggestions for 2016
Link up with the promotion of other local festivals in order to reach a wider audience e.g. Africa Oye
Potential for an evening event (‘Mad Pride’), perhaps as part of Threshold Festival
Film project with Liverpool Live
Photography competition (with a partner e.g. Jessops/local photo retailer)
Explore using other spaces in the Baltic with Baltic Creative
Consider what are other cities in the UK are doing for World Mental Health Day & whether or not there are any partnership opportunities.
A big Thank You to everyone who took part! 37 | P a g e