Witney News - Supporting Mental Health awareness with tea, talk and music!

Supporting Mental Health awareness with tea, talk and music!

West Oxfordshire residents are invited to join local musicians, volunteers and mental health organisations to support a mental health awareness event on Friday 9 October.
Members of the public can pop into Witney’s Corn Exchange at any time between 11am and 2pm where they can have refreshments, listen to music and find out more about mental health.
Paul Hicks, one of the event organisers and volunteers, has himself coped with mental illness and depression. He said “It’s a very informal lunchtime ‘do’, and I hope that a number of people will drop in on Friday and chat with us about mental health issues.”

Cllr James Mills, Cabinet Member with responsibility for health, said: “A staggering statistic is that mental illness affects one in four people at some point in our lives, and, equally remarkable, it is something that’s not often talked about. This is why the Council has chosen to support the national ‘Time to Change’ campaign and is working with others to dispel the stigma that so often surrounds this illness.”

Organisations taking part will include Bridewell Organic, Oxfordshire Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, Oxfordshire Healthwatch, Oxford Health NHS Trust, Restore, Base 33, Guideposts Trust and the Alzheimer’s Society.
For more information about ‘the ‘Time to Change’ campaign, visit their website: www.time-to-change.org.uk/.

The event marks World Mental Health Day, taking place the following day on Saturday 10 October.