World Mental Health Day

Hestia's Brent service celebrates World Mental Health Day 

By Joy Goddard – Hestia Co-production Coordinator, Engagement Brent

Hestia’s mental health service in Brent is less than a year old but that didn’t stop us and our partners at Ashford Place from throwing a bash for 100 service users and partners in celebration of World Mental Health Day!

The event was held at the Pakistan Centre in Willesden Green and we are hugely thankful to Mohammed Sajid and his team for providing us with the fantastic space… Our only worry is that next year we might need somewhere even bigger!

This year World Mental Health Day focused on “Well-being at Work”. To fit with this theme, we arranged workshops in Mindfulness, Making Stress Balls, Tree of Life, Creative Writing, EFT and Foraging.

We were kept entertained all day with fantastic performances of poems and spoken word from members of the Ashford Place poetry group and laughed ourselves silly through Body Clapping Drama Games from The Tricycle Theatre.

The day ended on a high with a chair yoga session from Karen to the backdrop of the fabulous Ashford Place Choir before breaking for a delicious lunch provided by Sufra, juice ‘shots’ from Punch & Juicy and a goody bag to take home!

Here’s what some of our attendees said…

“It was a great event and the feeling in the room was very positive. Thank you for your work in putting it all together and hopefully it will be a regular feature in the diary going forward!” (Councillor Krupesh Hirani, Brent)

“Your event for World Mental Health Day was the most positive community activity I have come across…it offered such a wide choice!” (Mary Ann Ephgrave – Service User)

“The event was a definite success, and lovely to meet the team and so many of our service users in person!​ I’m always up for developing links and have already signposted a lot of people in your direction from our side.” (Tricia Cussen Social Worker – Care Coordinator)

“Thank you so much for inviting us – it was a pleasure to be part of such an amazing event. It was very well organized and we enjoyed every bit of it! We look forward to the next one!” (Teresa & Zaira, Brent CNWL Talking Therapies Service)

“Thanks again for inviting me to take part – I had a fab day, and thought everyone did so well… Im only sorry couldn’t do all of the activities! I would’ve loved to have had a go at the other workshops – particularly EFT and Poetry, but I understand why they had to all be on at the same time. Maybe you could get together all the facilitators to collaborate and develop another group session for Hestia? Bring on Wembley!” (Jo Robinson Creative Writing Workshop leader)

“Brilliant!” (Wendy Young – Poetry Group)

“It was really nice to be involved and the crowd were very receptive to the singing which was great. Lovely too that members of the Cricklewood choir were able to get involved..we would love to be part of your next event.” (Helen Tierney Cricklewood Community Choir based at Ashford Place)

“I would like to congratulate you and your team for organising this event successfully. It would be pleasure to host any future events and assist you in any way” (Mohammad Sajid Project Co-ordinator Pakistan Community Centre)

Hestia would like to thank everyone who worked so hard to put this amazing day together and thank the 100 service users and partners who joined us to raise awareness of our mental health needs.