Mental Health Matters To Us All

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World Mental Health Day is on 10th October

The international theme for 2008 is Advocacy for Global Mental Health: Scaling Up Services through Citizen Advocacy and Action.  In Wandsworth we are looking at the importance of empowerment, advocacy and inclusion.

From Monday 6 until Friday 10 October there will be events going on throughout Wandsworth aiming to promote positive mental health, and challenge the stigma surrounding mental illness. 

Wandsworth Teaching PCT has been working closely with the Wandsworth Mental Health Promotion Forum, which is made up of local volunteers and other organisations.  There will be a range of events and activities across the borough particularly targeting young people, older people, carers and people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

Dr Rose de Boer, Putney GP and Chair of Wandsworth Mental Health Promotion Forum, said: “Locally, in Wandsworth, the Mental Health Promotion Forum has created the slogan ‘You Me We’ to reflect the importance of the emotional health of our community in order for us to enjoy life, cope with difficulties and develop personally. We all have a responsibility to look after our own mental health or emotional well-being, and that of others. ‘You Me We’ means we are all in this together.”

To mark this year’s Mental Health week, Wandsworth Teaching PCT will be launching the third edition of the Primary Care Mental Health directory.  The second edition of the Books on Prescription service which can be accessed through local libraries, and the Mood Manager DVD which will be available from pharmacies across Wandsworth.

Other activities during the week include:

• Walk and Talk in the park – this event aims to promote regular exercise as a means of enhancing mental well-being, and to offer advice on how you can get active.
  
• World Mental Health Day at South Thames College.  At this event you can get free hand and head massages, a free lesson in Tai Chi and advice about mental health.
  
• Poetry showcase at Battersea Arts Centre, with readings from internationally renowned Jean Binta-Breeze, as well as poems from some mental health service users, and a performance of West African drumming.
  

For more information about World Mental Health week, and the events in Wandsworth go to www.wandsworth.nhs.uk

 

September 30, 2008