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As part of our ‘You can take control’ campaign Belfast’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Nichola Mallon let us ‘take control’ of the city for a day.
‘Mayor for a day’ Kevin (32) from North Belfast accompanied Lord Mayor, Cllr Nichola Mallon as she undertook her formal civic duties, offering his perspective on
how to run the city.Kevin, a MindWise service user, was referred to MindWise in July 2010, first to the Supported Housing Service in Skegoneill and then to the
Belfast Resource Centre. With our support Kevin has a personalised care plan to manage his illness, and is setting a new goal to seek employment in the future.
Speaking at the beginning of his experience he said;
“Fear and misconception about my mental illness makes it easy for people to write me off. With the right support I have learned to manage my illness and take
control of it. Through MindWise I have made new friends and rediscovered my creativity through art, photography and film making projects. Today’s experience
is a part of my ongoing recovery and building up my confidence to find employment.
“I don’t know many other people who have had the opportunity to oversee their city. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope my experience encourages others to find
confidence to speak about their mental health issues or find the support they need.”
Lord Mayor, Cllr Nichola Mallon commented;
“I am delighted to have Kevin shadow me for a day and to give me a valuable insight into his perspective of our city. In my role as Lord Mayor I have been opening
up City Hall to a wider audience and I have organised a number of work shadow placements to give people from all walks of life an opportunity to experience the
civic role of Lord Mayor.
“I am delighted to support MindWise with this specific initiative. This charity and others are doing so much good work in raising public awareness and tackling the
stigma around mental health issues, and I applaud all that they are doing to help communities across the city”.
A recent survey found that fewer than four in ten employers would consider hiring a person with a mental health problem. Stigma and fear ensures that many
people with mental illness are less likely to be in employment, more likely to lose the job they are in, are often considered violent despite being more likely the
victim of violence and can face friendship losses and social rejection.
Mindwise CEO, Edward Gorringe explained the importance of the campaign:
“There is a huge public stigma to try and breakdown. More than one in four of us, in Northern Ireland, are directly affected by a mental health issue, but fear
prevents many talking about their illness. This can stop people finding the support they need, and reinforces a negative stigma.”
“It is a commonly held belief that people with mental health issue or illness cannot live a normal or fulfilling life; that they cannot recover. MindWise want to
challenge this. We believe that recovery from mental health means finding the support to live well in the presence of mental illness. This is the message that
we want more public to discuss through our You Can Take Control campaign.”
The campaign aims to encourage public discussion about recovery from mental health, and allow more people to talk openly about their experience of mental
health illness and issues. Using the hashtag #takecontrol on social media and a dedicated Youtube channel we are supporting the sharing of experiences,
advice, treatment and support that is available or helped others take control of their lives and mental illness. The campaign has already had the endorsement
of comedian Stephen Fry, who tweeted his support for the campaign to his 7 million followers shortly after the campaign launched in April.
If you would like to get involved in the campaign by sharing your story or showing your support please contact Communications Officer
Lee Campbell, [email protected]
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