Borough joins in World Mental Health Day celebration

Mayor of Rochdale, Councillor Alan Godson and Mayoress of Rochdale, Gillian Brown help to celebrate World Mental Health Day

Hundreds of people from across the borough visited a free wellbeing event, held on The Butts, in Rochdale to celebrate World Mental Health Day earlier this month.

Organised by NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, the event showcased a range of stalls and activities people can get involved in to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Rochdale and District Mind put on arts and crafts, Health Trainers gave health checks and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust asked people to pledge to end the stigma associated with mental health.

Therapists from Pennine Care’s Psychological Therapies Service were also on had to give one to one advice about depression, anxiety and dealing with stress, anger and bereavement. Kids were also treated to face painting and balloon modelling.

Public Health Manager, Shabnam Sardar, said: “It was fantastic to see so many people turn out to attend the event. It was a real partnership effort to make sure all local services were there to give advice to the public and show how mental wellbeing can be improved by paying attention to the 5 ways to wellbeing and taking part in sports, the arts, creativity and relaxation.

“Many people don’t realise that one in four of us will suffer some form of mental health problem in our lives, such as depression, anxiety or a more complex condition. High unemployment levels and the credit crunch is causing these figures to rise so we need to make sure local people can access all the support they need.”