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Tackling mental health inequalities through storytelling
08/10/2021
Campaign aims to better understand mental wellbeing needs in Oxfordshire
This Sunday is World Mental Health Day and the day when Oxfordshire County Council and its partners are launching a new year-long storytelling campaign. People in the county from different backgrounds will be encouraged to share their lived experiences.
The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a big impact on people’s mental health and brought to light the social, economic, and health inequalities faced by many.
The new storytelling campaign aims to give a voice to people in Oxfordshire that may face these inequalities and provide different perspectives of residents, support workers and volunteers.
The campaign will help the council and its partners to better understand mental wellbeing needs in Oxfordshire, the impact that existing work has on local people, and help shape better mental health and wellbeing support in the future.
Councillor Mark Lygo, Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet member for public health said: “Our social circumstances, the environment where we live, learn, work and play, can all affect our mental wellbeing.
“They can enable us to get the most from life; feel connected to friends, family and neighbours and lead a healthy and happy life.
“One of our top priorities as a cabinet at Oxfordshire County Council is to tackle the inequalities faced by so many across the county. Notably, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated some of the health, social and economic inequalities that commonly lead to mental health difficulties in many people.
“But as we now begin returning to some normality, we have a real opportunity to tackle these inequalities and ensure good mental wellbeing is accessible to everybody. Storytelling allows us to learn from another person’s experience and it can shape, strengthen or challenge our opinions and values.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam