Change Your Mind celebrates five years of achievements

On Wednesday 5th April, people from across from the health and social care, as well as partners and elected representatives, gathered at Titanic Belfast for a lunchtime celebration of Change Your Mind’s last half decade work with communities, young people and workplaces throughout Northern Ireland.

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The event was led and organised by mental health charity Inspire and its Director of Insight, Engagement and Innovation, Lisa McElherron, presented an overview of how and why Change Your Mind has made such a difference in the last five years.

She outlined the various projects, activities and actions that sought to tackle mental health-related stigma and promote positive wellbeing, along with some key findings from the various public polls that were undertaken to gauge popular and political opinion on the topic.

She also set out the legacy of the campaign, a legacy that includes the presence of anti-stigma outcomes in the Department of Health’s Mental Health Strategy 2021-2031.

Before breaking for lunch, Lisa invited attendees to reach for the Change Your Mind conversation starters on each table and discuss the findings of our recent YouGov survey, which highlighted a number of interesting statistics around public attitudes to mental ill health:

  •         85% of people believe that anyone can experience mental ill health
  •         63% of people want to learn more about serious mental illnesses
  •         60% of people think mental health is negatively portrayed in the media
  •         63% of people think that having a mental health service in their neighbourhood would be a positive thing
  •         72% of people think that there is a great deal/fair amount of shame associated with mental health in Northern Ireland
  •         56% of people think that there is less stigma in society than five years ago
  •         73% of people believe we should be more considerate in the way we talk about mental health
  •         74% of people think government is not doing enough around mental health

We created this video highlighting our achievements and impact since 2018. We sang and stitched, laughed and kicked. We drummed, championed and started conversations. Please enjoy.

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