Over the years it has had a hugely positive impact raising awareness of the widespread prevalence of mental health issues, with celebrity endorsements including Stephen Fry, Gary Lineker and Gok Wan.

We ran our own local Time to Change project in Hackney in partnership with Peter Bedford Housing Association. We recruited and trained 31 local residents with lived experience of mental health issues, to be Social Engagement Volunteers, to initiate conversations about mental health with the public. Using workshops, stalls, activities, and discussion forums, we engaged over 850 members of the public in conversation about mental health, with many people talking openly about their experience.

We held a stall at the African and Caribbean Cultural Family Fun Day, in Gillett Square for World Mental Health Day, at the older people’s Winter Warmers event, talked to members of the public visiting Dalston Library and the Peter Bedford Clissold Garden for Open Gardens. We held poetry and drawing workshops at the charity shop Outpost in Holloway, and used an LBGT art exhibition to discuss the impact of art on improving mental health.

Many of the volunteers who took part said the experience had greatly improved their confidence, having been able to confront their fears over talking about mental health. We, at Volunteer Centre Hackney, have also signed up to the Employers’ Pledge, as our commitment to supporting employees’ positive mental health in the workplace.