Platform 51

News

Categories: Mental health campaign
Monday, 5 September 2011
It's good to talk

Girls and women getting together to discuss mental health

Last week saw around forty girls and women from Platform 51 centres come together and discuss mental health. Platform 51 has been campaigning for better mental health treatment for women since January and this was a great opportunity for our women to learn more, find out what other centres have been doing to campaign and plan future activity.

The women shared ideas of what promotes positive mental health and ways that women can improve their resilience such as having supportive family and friends, getting a good education, getting a job and eating healthily. The findings and asks of Platform 51's report Women like me: Supporting wellbeing in girls and women were discussed and the women came up with ideas of how they could go back to their centres and campaign for better mental health treatment for women in their local area. Some ideas that came up with were leaflets to GPs, writing mental health articles and going into schools and speaking to young women.

The positivity and energy at the event was electric. Platform 51 has run many events like this in the past but this was the first for women of all ages. The women were very knowledgeable about mental health and understood the importance of raising awareness of the problem.

Ali Thomas, Platform 51 participation development manager, said: "The event was really inspiring, the best one we have ever had. Girls and women of all ages came together and offered different perspectives. The women were really clued up about mental health, really wanted to make a change and understood why Platform 51 wants to campaign about this problem both nationally and locally."

Jemma, one of the women who attended the event, said: "I wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to come to your mental health national event. I really enjoyed myself and it was great to learn that I'm not the only one feeling unsupported by my GP and that platform 51 have plans to change this. I feel so much better knowing this and have come away from the event feeling much more positive!

Platform 51 would like to thank Pfizer UK Ltd for sponsoring the event.