Health / mental health
Bristol wins bid to become 2018 Time to Change hub
Time to Change, a national campaign run by mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, is a national network working to change how we all think and take action on mental health. Bristol will be helping to lead the UK through these changes after winning a bid to become one of 2018’s Time to Change hubs.
Joining seven other funded hubs and 25 organic hubs around the country, Bristol will become a joined-up network for local organisations and individuals committed to ending negative attitudes and behaviours towards people experiencing poor mental health. The aim is to to create a ‘social movement’ within local communities, combining insights from the national campaign with local knowledge to improve mental health within communities, workplaces and schools.

Combining local insights with national campaigning will help bolster support networks across England
Bristol City Council will work with Bristol Independent Mental Health Network (BINHN), Wellbeans CIC and Rethink Bristol to create the hub, with additional support from local businesses, unions, the universities, the NHS and Avon & Somerset Police.
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Tom Renhard of BINHN said of the news: “As a member-led organisation for those with lived experience of mental health, we are pleased to be leading the coordination of the hub, alongside Bristol City Council and local partners, ensuring that those with personal experience of mental health problems are truly at the heart of everything the hub does.”
Deputy mayor Asher Craig described becoming a Time to Change hub “instrumental in the work to bring our city together to tackle mental health stigma and discrimination as part of our new Thrive Bristol programme”.
Thrive Bristol is a council initiative to tackle poor mental health an wellbeing across the whole city. Recent research by Thrive Bristol found that Bristol has a higher prevalence of mental ill-health than the national average, and that one in ten children would experience mental health problems, a real figure of 9,000.
For more information about the Time to Change campaign and its work, visit www.time-to-change.org.uk.