Not all struggles are visible…
Rethink Mental Illness bring you a day of talks, interactive workshops and opportunities to share your stories, learn new skills and promote positive well-being through creative media.
We believe that everyone is an asset and that by working together we can transform the support that young receive for their mental health.
What to Expect:
- Inspiring talks from Grace Barrett from the Self-Esteem Team giving advice even google can’t give and comedian and campaigner Dave Chawner speaking home truths and candid confessions on his own experiences of mental health.
- Workshops on Yoga, Rap Therapy, Photography Creating your Wellbeing toolbox, Social media and Digital Wellbeing
- Live screening of “Stranger on the Bridge” with a Q and A session with award-winning mental health campaigner, film producer, public speaker, writer and vlogger Jonny Benjamin
- Volunteering and campaigning opportunities
- Resilience building tools
- Understanding of local services and support
- Networking with like minded individuals
- Direct influence into the local transformation plans of children and adolescent mental health services
What is included:
- A hot lunch
- Interactive workshops
- Freebies & goodie bags
This event is for young people aged 14–25 years old who live, work or study in the following boroughs
- Hammersmith
- Fulham
- Westminster
- Kensington
- Chelsea
Rethink Mental Illness, No Bounds, MIND, Time To Change and NWL C CCG will all be sharing information about volunteering opportunities and how you can get involved in their work.
The conference will include a choice of two workshops. Once you have selected your first workshop ticket, please email katie.neal@rethink.org with your name, D.O.B, address and choice of second workshop.
If you do not select a second workshop by the 29th November, you will randomly be allocated a workshop based on availability.
Take a look below at Last years conference!
Workshop Descriptions
Creating Your Well-being Toolkit: Step-up Transitions (AM only)
This workshop is co-designed and co-delivered by Step Up:Transitions champions. Step Up: Transitions is a collective of professionals and young people with lived experience who co-produce and deliver trainings across London for 16–25 year olds. We use real life experiences to create activities, tools and resources that encourage a more prepared, resourceful and resilient approach to dealing with mental health in times of change. Expect to meet passionate young people who want to share their tools and tips on increasing your resilience through inter active activity.
Rap Therapy : I am Hip-Hop
Words can have a powerful impact on those hearing or reading them. Words can also have a powerful effect on the person creating them. Poetry, story telling, lyricism and other forms of writing have long been known to be a great way to express ones self. It empowers us to tell our story, express our feelings, and/or convey a message. There has been a long link between the positive effect of telling our stories and building mental health resilience. We are collaborating with No Bounds to bring a workshop on how you can express your personal story through lyricism and poetry. This will include a lesson on how to structure your words to convey your message, examples of completed work, and a chance to create something yourself. All those attending the workshop will also be given the opportunity to submit their work to I Am Hip Hop for a chance to have their work published in a print magazine! “The pen is mightier than the sword,”
Yoga for the Mind and Body : Charlotta Martinus
Practicing yoga is not only an effective stress reliever, but also a way to ease symptoms of anxiety. By transferring focus and attention to the body and breath, yoga can help to temper anxiety while also releasing physical tension. Whether you’re a yoga guru or a complete beginner join Charlotta Martinus to try it out and see how yoga can be used to de-stress your mind and body.
“Yoga helps us slow down for a moment and tune into the breath. Simply the focus on one thing — which is the very definition of meditation — allows us to decompress,”
Think. Make. Create. : Octavia Foundation
This digital photography workshop is an opportunity to experiment and use photography to demonstrate feelings and emotions.You can use signs to write about your story, the day, or anything you wish to share. It’s about using the arts and creativity to convey important messages about self-exploration, mental health and wellbeing.
Social Media and Digital Wellbeing : Mind (PM only)
This workshop is an opportunity to discuss and explore the effect social media and the digital world has on your mental health. Expect activities, conversation and personal stories as well as an investigation into the apps availble to boost your wellbeing.
Film Screening of Stranger on the Bridge : Jonny Benjamin (PM only)
Join Jonny Benjamin for a Q & A and screening of his film Stranger on the Bridge. Having been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder shortly beforehand, he stood on London’s Waterloo Bridge in January 2008 and prepared to take his own life. That was until a stranger walking across the bridge saw him and talked Jonny down from the edge. Jonny was taken to hospital and didn’t see the stranger again but was determined to find him and thank him for what he did.
Jonny launched the #FindMike campaign with the support of Rethink Mental Illness, which became a social media sensation, eventually reaching over 300 million people worldwide. In using this hashtag Jonny’s story helped to stimulate positive changeand engage viewers in these issues of mental illness in an accessible and sensitive way.
The film captures every step of Jonny’s remarkable journey including the phenomenon of the campaign, the many leads and ‘Mikes’ that came forward and ultimately his successful reunion with the man that saved his life. Everything changed for Jonny that day, but also, as a result, he has become a mental health campaigner who in his own right has helped transform the lives of many other people around the world through his work.
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