PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release: 23 August 2013
Time to Change Village ‘pops up’ in Cambridge this September
This September, Mind in Cambridgeshire will join forces with Time to Change to bring their successful Village events running across the country to Cambridge.
As part of the national campaign to help end the stigma and discrimination of mental health issues, the Time to change Village will ‘pop-up’ at Christ's Pieces Park in Cambridge, on Saturday 7 September 2013 from 10am – 5pm.
The Time to Change Village is an interactive space, where the public can learn more about mental health, whilst engaging in a range of activities and having lots of fun.
Reconstructed to represent an actual village, it will include a cinema, a teashop, a newsagent
(with postcards available for people to send which will further help to combat discrimination), a Village Green holding a number of music and drama performances throughout the day and a Depressed Cake Shop ( http://depressedcakeshop.com/ ). The Depressed Cake Shop, which will be raising funds for Mind in Cambridgeshire is a pop-up shop that sells only grey coloured cakes themed around mental illness, in order to raise awareness of mental health issues.
To help people talk more openly about mental health issues, there will be 80 Village
Volunteers on site with first-hand experience of the issues, who will engage the public in conversation about mental health issues.
Sarah James , East of England Regional Coordinator at Time to Change, explains why this is so crucial: ““We know that conversations between people with and without mental health problems are one of the most effective ways to challenge misconceptions and stereotypes .
People start to realise that those of us with mental health problems are so much more that their diagnosis, they are talented, creative and engaging, they are brothers, sisters or parents
By entertaining and engaging with people we expect that they will learn something new and feel less afraid of having more open conversations about mental health. The process of volunteering at a Time to Change event can also be a very empowering experience and volunteers often report that they have gained confidence, felt accepted and that their personal lived experience has been valued in a positive way”.
As well as engaging in lots of activities and having fun, there is also a more serious side to the Village; “The aim of the Village is to promote awareness about mental health problems and to encourage people to talk more openly about their mental health”, says Jenny Swain f rom Mind in Cambridgeshire’s mental health promotion project Think Right.
The Time to change Village will be at Christ's Pieces Park in Cambridge, on Saturday 7
September 2013 from 10am – 5pm.
Ends

FOR FURTHER PRESS INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT SARAH JAMES ON
07949083899 OR EMAIL sarah.james59@hotmail.co.uk
(Regional Coordinator) .
Or JENNY SWAIN ON 01480 470480 OR EMAIL Jenny.Swain@Mindincambs.org.uk
.
ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN
Notes to Editors:
Time to Change
Time to Change is England's most ambitious programme to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. The programme is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and funded by the Department of Health, Comic
Relief and the Big Lottery Fund. For more information go to www.time-to-change.org.uk
Mind in Cambridgeshire is a dynamic county-wide charity that supports local people in their recovery from mental health challenges; promotes wellbeing and campaigns on mental health-related issues. We believe that everyone who is affected by mental ill-health should have ready access to the support they need to recover – free from stigma and discrimination.
For further information, please see www.mindincambs.org.uk
Think Right
The Think Right project is a Comic Relief-funded, user led project, focused on raising awareness of mental health issues and tackling the stigma and discrimination. The project runs campaigns to challenge stigma and awareness raising sessions in schools and in the community to raise awareness of mental health issues.
Department of Health
On 2 February 2011 the Department of Health launched No health without mental health , a cross-government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages which has the twin aims of keeping people well and improving their mental health and, when people are not well, improving their outcomes through high-quality services.
The strategy is based on six shared objectives, developed with partners from across the mental health sector, and focuses on ‘Recovery’ and the reduction of stigma and discrimination as overarching themes.
To help deliver the objective to reduce the stigma faced by people with mental health problems, in 2011 the Department agreed to support Time to Change, the anti-stigma campaign run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness. The Department of Health is providing the campaign with up to £16 million of funding together with a further £4 million from Comic Relief. This funding will help Time to Change continue their work until March
2015.

Comic Relief
Comic Relief is committed to supporting people living with mental health problems. The projects Comic Relief funds ensure people with mental health problems get their voices heard in the decisions that affect their lives and get the help they need to recover. Comic
Relief also helps people to promote their rights and reduce the stigma and discrimination they face so that they feel more included in society. The £4 million grant to Time to Change is the second time the charity has awarded Time to Change its largest UK grant and is part of
Comic Relief's long standing commitment to this issue. For more information go to www.comicrelief.com
Big Lottery Fund
Big Lottery Fund supported the first phase of Time to Change with funding of over £20million, and in 2013 awarded the programme a further £3.6m from its Well-being programme to build on its success and work with targeted communities. Big Lottery Fund also supported the campaign’s roll out across Wales.
The largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, Big Lottery Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has awarded close to £6bn to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the
UK since 2004. For full details of the Big Lottery Fund's work visit: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk