Open Up Initiatives 2008-09

North West
Music and the Mind - Blackburn
A series of live music events and club nights designed to educate audiences about mental health issues.

Shadows & Rainbows Partnership - Preston
Awareness raising anti-discrimination workshops using art to help participants express their feelings about discrimination, followed by public exhibition of the artwork created during the sessions. Led by and focused on (but not exclusive to) the Asian Muslim community.

North East
Maat Probe Group - Sheffield
Research by a group of young men of African and African Caribbean descent into the discrimination issues they face from service providers. The group will use their findings to train mental health professionals on how to deliver culturally appropriate services.

Playback Theatre Human Rights Training – Middlesborough
Training sessions on discrimination for people with experience of mental health problems, using a pioneering new theatre technique.

West Midlands
Irish Women’s Group - Birmingham
A group of women from Birmingham's Irish community who gather stories of discrimination and use them to train service providers and improve services.

Training by Sandwell Service Users Reference Group – West Bromwich
A project to develop a training package on mental health discrimination for statutory service providers in one of the region's most economically deprived areas.

East Midlands
Harmless – Nottingham
A book containing the experiences of people who self-harm, which aims to inform and inspire the general public, others who self-harm, and service providers.

Making Waves Media - Nottingham
Training for local people with experience of mental health problems on dealing with the media, with the aim of establishing a region-wide media action group. They also train journalists writing about mental health.

South West
Growing Minds - Yeovil
A band who explore their experiences of mental distress and discrimination through their music. They promote their anti-discrimination message widely through their latest album, Open Up, and through performing at live gigs.

MindOut Play - Bournemouth
A play about the combination of mental health discrimination and discrimination against people from the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender community. The play has been developed by people from the LGBT community and performed to local service providers and employers to help raise awareness and change attitudes.

South East
RF Temps - Leatherhead
Agency who link people with experience of mental health problems back into both voluntary and paid work, and educate employers in mental health related employment issues.

Radio Broadcast - Woking
A one-hour radio broadcast for community radio that raises awareness by exploring people's experiences of mental health discrimination, with the aim of content to be used regularly in health programmes.

Eastern England
Wellbusiness - Norwich
A series of corporate ‘face-to-face’ lunches between people with experience of mental distress of various professional backgrounds and community leaders, followed by workshops looking at mental health discrimination in the workplace and how to create work environments that promote mental wellbeing.

Psst, Pass it On! – Chelmsford
Focus groups with sixth formers exploring mental health issues and discrimination and finding mentors to support younger students. Students in the groups develop a comprehensive newsletter/booklet for young people raising awareness of mental health issues and discrimination.

London
I do Mind - Lambeth
Film-making group producing a series of short films, including a vox pop called “Would you hug a schizophrenic?” and a short drama called “Community Careless”.

Jara Socho - "Think Twice" - Harrow
A play in Hindi, written and performed by a group of Asian women, tackling issues around mental health and domestic violence in the South Asian community.