Access All Areas - World Mental Health Day Festival 2022

Access All Areas – a free World Mental Health Day festival on Monday 10th October.

Created by young Londoners, for young Londoners. Hosted by the Mayor of London and Thrive LDN.

We know the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and distressing national and global news are putting a strain on the mental health of young Londoners. Which is why it’s more important than ever that young people know the resources and services are available to them.

Young Londoners deserve to feel empowered and confident in accessing the mental health and wellbeing support they need. So we’re taking over City Hall and putting on a festival to make it happen.

Come and meet people from all over London who share similar experiences, gain new skills to improve your resilience, learn about new and existing services, and hear directly from decision makers about how you can create change.

Explore the Access All Areas festival schedule

You can explore an online programme on the Thrive LDN website.

Beginning in the afternoon, the festival will offer six interactive workshops, three panel conversations, two creative art installations, and a ‘wellbeing marketplace’ with 12 local or regional charities and organisations who support young people’s wellbeing and mental health.

Continuing into the evening, the festival welcomes a series of spoken word, poetry, and R’n’B performances, alongside film screens and dance performances.

Register for free

All activities are free to attend but pre-registration is required.

Register for free via Eventbrite or using the form below.

About Access All Areas

This year’s festival theme is ‘Access All Areas’ because all young Londoners deserve better access to information and services, regardless of background or lived experience.

Download the festival zine and hear from the young producers about the importance of this year’s theme.

Where:

City Hall, Royal Docks.
Kamal Chunchie Way,
London, E16 1ZE.

Find on Google Maps.

When:

World Mental Health Day, Monday 10th October.

Activities are taking place from 12.30pm – 8pm.

What:

You can explore an online programme on the Thrive LDN website.

Afternoon: 12.30pm – 5pm

• A marketplace with stalls from health and wellbeing organisations will be open from 12.30pm.
• Workshops on digital storytelling, advocating for change, self-reflection and more!
• Panel discussions on community approaches to mental health, lived experience, and exploring how decisions about mental health services are made in London.
• Artist Bethan Evans will be bringing to life the Message of Hope campaign which has been encouraging people to write a message of hope for anyone struggling with their mental health at the moment. You can add your message ahead of World Mental Health Day and find out more about the campaign via @messagesof.hope on Instagram.

Evening: 5 – 8pm

• 5.15pm – 6pm: STEP TOGETHER with Speaker Box Street Party and Youmanity
• 6pm – 8pm: Performances from up and coming artists including rappers, musicians, dancers, poets and spoken word artists.

You are welcome to join us for the whole festival – afternoon and evening – or just for any particular workshops, panel discussions or performances that appeal to you. Refreshments will be available on the day, and we will provide goodie bags filled with freebies and useful resources for attendees to take home.

A full detailed programme will be published by October.

Get in touch for more information or any queries about the day.

Still need convincing? Hear from the young producers…

About the festival organisers

• Thrive LDN is a citywide public mental health partnership to ensure all Londoners have an equal opportunity for good mental health and wellbeing. Launched publicly by the Mayor of London and the London Health Board partners in 2017, Thrive LDN has evolved and grown significantly in the past five years.
• The Mayor of London’s Peer Outreach Workers are a group of young people from across the capital that helps influence the Mayor’s policies. The POWs are made up of 30 young Londoners aged 15 – 25 years old from diverse backgrounds and life experiences. They are commissioned by the Mayor to engage, inspire and gather the opinions of other young people in the capital. Their work helps shape the policies, strategies and services.
• Living Proof co-create experiences, products and services FOR young people WITH young people. With a mission to put youth voice at the forefront of decision making and empower the next generation to design the future they want to see.
• This year’s festival is also supported as part of Thriving Through Culture, a partnership between Thrive LDN and the Greater London Authority’s Creative Industries and Culture Unit (CCI), which is match funded by The Baring Foundation. Thriving Through Culture is a series of cultural programmes to support children and young people’s mental health and meet the ambitions of London’s Recovery Missions.
• Content from the festival is also being professionally captured by The Content Creatives. Established in early 2019, The Content Creatives have a clear goal of finding stories and capturing them for social media as well as having an underlying drive for achieving social good in the work we do by helping young people from challenging backgrounds.