Guest post: UCLan SU: "Mental Health for All"

Thanks to Jozanda from UCLan SU for asking Organised Fun to share this info about their upcoming session for World Mental Health Day…

UCLan SU’s Time to Change Champions Group would like to introduce you to the campaign group and their plans in the lead up to World Mental Health Day.

What is World Mental Health Day?

World Mental Health Day takes place every year on October 10th and was set up by the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). The federation aims to increase awareness of mental health, improve public attitudes towards mental health and to improve the care and treatment of people living with mental disorders. The theme for World Mental Health Day this year is Mental Health for All. The international campaign aims to inspire the global community to create lasting and meaningful change, to work toward greater investment in and access to mental health resources to ensure mental health care can be available to everyone in need of it across the globe.

What is Time to Change?

Time to Change is a growing social movement working to change the way we all think and act about mental health problems. They’ve already reached millions of people and begun to improve attitudes and behaviour. Despite the progress they’ve made, we know that many people still don’t consider mental health relevant to them. They don’t believe mental health problems are likely to affect them or people they know. But the reality is that mental health can affect anyone. Statistically, 1 in 4 of us will experience a mental health problem in any given year. That’s why their work is so important. No one should have to fear being treated differently because of a mental health problem.

Time to Change has been working with UCLan SU’s Inspiring Projects team for the past 2 years, and this is the third year we have had a Champions Group. The project has won 3 Union Awards in the 2 years it has been running including the Campaign for Change Award for 2 years in a row. As well as receiving full training from Time to Change, volunteers can get involved with planning events such as Time to Talk Day, which is a national event that takes place every February. Although this year’s activities may look a little different, there are still lots of online events and activities that can be run so that we can continue to reach as many people as possible.

What are we doing for World Mental Health Day?

In the lead up to World Mental Health Day on Saturday 10th October we’re doing a presentation on Zoom on Friday 9th October from 1-2pm. Entitled “UCLan SU Time to Change Champions Group – what we’ve done and how”, staff and students will come together to explain not only what we’ve have done as part of the project, but also how being a part of the group has benefited us both personally and professionally. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in attending with a view to implementing a similar project in your organisation get your free ticket here and you’ll be emailed the Zoom link.