The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day on 10th October is ‘mental health in an unequal world’, asking us to think about the issues that cause mental health inequality both locally and globally.
Stigma and discrimination towards those with mental health issues is one key reason for these inequalities.
Almost 9 out of 10 people with mental health problems say that the stigma surrounding mental health has a negative impact on their education, work and personal lives. The stigma around mental health can make it more difficult for those having difficulties to seek help.
This World Mental Health Day, in our schools, colleges and communities, we can work towards ending the stigma around mental health, opening up conversations and normalizing the discussion of mental health and wellbeing in our classrooms and workplaces.
Throughout World Mental Health Day, our partners Inspire Wellbeing will be championing positive, hopeful mental health, focusing on the 5 Steps to Wellbeing and hosting conversations to break the stigma around mental ill health.
The Wellbeing Sessions 2 will broadcast a number of events LIVE on their Facebook page on 10th October.
The Programme includes:
- 10am: Lighting a creative flame – Comedian Tim McGarry will join Mental Health Champion Siobhan O’Neill and members of the Bolster Community to make candles at the social enterprise’s Newry premises. The group will discuss the value of connection, the importance of doing things you love and the wellbeing power of creativity.
- 11.15am: Inspire Talks: Hope in Darkness – Penny McCanny is a prominent campaigner for the decriminalisation of drugs, having lost her son, Aidan, to an accidental overdose in 2013. In this important and moving talk, Penny will reflect on the power of hope during dark times.
- 12.30pm: Café conversations – Food has dominated all kinds of discussions over the last 18 months: access to it, how it impacts on our health, what happens when we can’t afford it and how it defines cultures. In this unique conversation, nutritionist Jane McClenaghan, Méabh Austin (FairShare, a project of CHNI) and Nisha Tandon (Belfast Mela) will cook a meal together and explore the power of food and how it relates to our wellbeing.
- 2.00pm: Inspire Wellbeing Bookclub – Filmed in the beautiful surroundings of the library at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace, author Tony Macaulay, Inspire Director Alex Bunting, psychology professor Dr Nichola Rooney and activist Lindsay Robinson will talk about the books that inspired them, the characters and stories that helped shape their understandings of mental ill health and the power of storytelling in breaking stigma and prejudice.
- 3.30pm: Sound Baths with Tessa – Using the surround sound of live instruments (gongs, bowls, bells, rain sticks, etc.) to create a peaceful and soothing environment, sound baths aid meditation and relaxation through their effects on body and mind.
Tune in LIVE from 10am on Sunday 10th October and join Inspire on World Mental Health Day. Full details are also available on the Inspire website.
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