Mental health speakers and discussions are coming to campus

The Student Mental Health Conference is approaching for the third year running, once again held in the Eleanor Rathbone building.

The Mental Health Conference is open for all, it consists of a day full of talks from those who have experienced mental health issues, discussion groups, a free lunch, a suicide awareness workshop and charities providing information and opportunities.

The event takes place Wednesday 11th October 2017, from 1-5pm, the event page can be found here. The aim of the day is to have open and honest discussions whilst breaking down dangerous stigma that can be damaging to those living with mental illnesses.

Charities will be there for the day providing the opportunity for support and information, these include: Samaritans, Nightline, BPS student branch, Merseycare Volunteers, B-Eat, Healthwatch, University counselling services, PAPYRUS, MOWLL, and Talk Liverpool.

The Suicide Awareness Workshop run by PAPYRUS has limited capacity, as do the discussions, so attendance for these need to be signed up for, free tickets can be found here. If these do not fill up, it will be possible to sign up on the day.

There will be three discussion sessions available after lunch. There will be one on ‘What does recovery mean to you?’, one on ‘Being a friend or family’, and finally one on ‘Diagnosis and treatment of mental health’.

Volunteers to help out for the day are also needed, if you’re interested in showing guests in, setting up lunch, facilitating discussion groups and helping the day run smoothly, please email [email protected]

The schedule for the day is as follows:

13.00 – Welcome talk

13.05 – B-eat (eating disorders talk)

13.25 – Laura Abbate (personal experience talk)

13.45 – Lunch and mingling with charities/organisations.

14.35 – Papyrus (suicide awareness workshop)

15.00 – Discussion Sessions

16.00 – Dr. James Cruickshank (personal experience talk)

16.20 – Dr. Robert MacDonald (comedic personal experience talk titled ‘Bi Polar Tragedy or Comedy?’

16.40 – Dr. Jenna Kenyani (Personal experience talk)

17.00 – Closing note.