New local project tackles mental health discrimination head on

Our innovative Face 2 Face project in Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole has been awarded a grant of £39,950 to to help tackle mental health stigma and discrimination by national campaign Time to Change.

Face 2 Face is managed by Richmond Fellowship in partnership with community interest company ZooFish Arts and the Borough of Poole Arts Service and will be led by people with mental health problems. The project will aim to establish meaningful and open conversations with others in the local area, bringing people who don’t have mental health problems into social contact with those who do. Evidence suggests that this kind of contact is one of the most effective ways of breaking down stigma and discrimination.

Face 2 Face will use creative activities to draw in members of the public and create opportunities for one-to-one conversations. Trained volunteers will attend festivals and community events across Dorset and run simple arts based activities and workshops. These will lead to discussions on mental health and chances for volunteers to share their own experiences of mental health problems.

Doug Low, Richmond Fellowship locality manager, said: “We’re hoping to recruit up to 30 volunteers to work on the Face 2 Face project who have lived experience of mental ill-health.”
  
Time to Change is England’s mental health anti-stigma programme run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness and funded by the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Fund.  The programme is distributing grants to local community-led projects as part of its drive to improve public attitudes and behaviour in relation to mental health.

For information about the grants please visit www.time-to-change.org.uk/grants

For more information about the project or to enquire about becoming a Face 2 Face volunteer please contact Doug Low on 07786 191192 or email doug.low@richmondfellowship.org.uk