24 July is the Samaritans Awareness Day called ‘Talk to Us’ and with that in mind we have chosen Hussain Manawer as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Hussain is an acclaimed poet, writer, actor and activist and has supported the Samaritans for many years as part of his mental health campaigning.

In March 2017, Hussain set a Guinness World Record, partnered with Kings College London and supported by the Samaritans, for the world’s largest mental health lesson which included 538 pupils from local schools.

Later that year, he launched an EP during Mental Health Awareness Week entitled Am I Going Too Deep, with 36p from every download donated to Samaritans.  He also teamed up with Samaritans to launch his short video Playground to mark World Mental Health Day which encourages adults to think back to a time when life was simpler, looking back to his own childhood.

In 2018 Hussain received an Honorary Fellowship from Kings College London for his mental health campaigning work. The fellowship came at a time when he had just launched the UK’s largest mental health youth festival in partnership with Twitter – #HussainsHouseLive.

He also supported the Big Listen campaign, to spread the word that listening can be the first step to saving a life. He kicked off the conversation with an appearance on BBC Breakfast and BBC Radio 5 Live. Hussain performed a specially written poem called Indirect Emotion, about learning how to listen to and support a friend who’s struggling.

In January 2019 Hussain supported the Brew Monday campaign to speak out about loneliness and encourage people to reach out to support each other in a specially produced film and in 2020 Hussain contributed to the How to Listen book where he was interviewed about his own personal experiences.

May 2022 saw the debut publication of Hussain’s poetry collection – Life is Sad and Beautiful. Launched during Mental Health Awareness Week with various book signings and screenings of short films bringing the poems to life, the book is a Sunday Times Bestseller.

To find our more about the Samaritans see here

https://www.samaritans.org/support-us/campaign/talk-us/

To find our more about Hussain’s work see here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgmK4cNlAUSt3MwwiyAMU9w

15 – 21 May is Mental Health Awareness Week and with that in mind we have chosen Zoe Sugg as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Zoe is a vlogger and YouTube sensation who rose to fame with her YouTube channel Zoella.  Zoe is Mind’s first Digital Ambassador.

With over 12 million followers on YouTube, Zoe is known for regularly vlogging about fashion, beauty and lifestyle. In 2012, she bravely opened up about her own experiences with mental health. Zoe first experienced panic attacks and anxiety when she was 14 years old and since then she’s become all too aware of how isolating it can be to have a mental health problem. She feels passionately about speaking out and hopes that by doing so, she’s helping others to feel less alone.

Zoe regularly promotes Mind’s campaigns, such as Time to Talk Day and Crafternoon on her digital channels. Most recently, Mind featured as part of the ‘Tuesday Takeover’ series on her Zoella Instagram channel, highlighting various aspects of our campaigning and fundraising work. Rosie Weatherley, Information Content Manager at Mind, was also interviewed for a ‘13 Questions With‘ feature on the Zoella website.

Zoe also regularly fundraises for Mind, from launching a fundraising campaign for her 28th birthday to donating 100% of the profits of a neon sign created in aid of Mind.

To find out more about Zoe see here https://zoella.co.uk/

To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week see here

Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 9 – 15 May and this year’s theme is loneliness.  With this in mind we have chosen Frankie Bridge as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Frankie is a singer, songwriter and TV personality.  She is a former member of groups S Club Juniors and The Saturdays and has appeared in various TV shows including Strictly Come Dancing, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and The Saturdays 24/7 and is a regular panellist on Loose Women.

Frankie is an ambassador for the mental health charity Mind and chose to support them after opening up about her experiences of anxiety, depression and panic attacks back in May 2012. Having initially dealt with these issues in silence, Frankie is keen to support Mind in making sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone.

Frankie has leant her support to a number of Mind’s campaigns including Time to Talk Day and Move for Mind. During Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, Frankie guest-edited the Lifestyle section of Metro Online and penned an opinion piece highlighting Mind’s ‘Join the Fight’ campaign and sharing her reasons for supporting Mind’s work.

To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week see here

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week/resources

Find out more about Frankie here

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1421678/

Time to Talk Day 2022 is on 3 February, with this in mind we have chosen Clarke Carlisle as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Clarke Carlisle is a former premier league footballer, Sky Sports pundit and PFA (Professional Footballers Association) Chairman.  He is also an ambassador for the Mental Health Charity Mind.

Clarke was diagnosed with depression when he was playing professional football and, by becoming a Mind ambassador, helps to spread the message that there needs to be the understanding, freedom and awareness to address mental health in the same way as physical health.

Clarke has been pivotal in helping to launch Mind’s sport report ‘Performance Matters: Mental Health in Elite Sport‘ which details how sports associations can better support the mental health of professional sportspeople.

Clarke, and his wife Carrie, won the Speaking Out Award at our Mind Media Awards in 2018. This award was given to Clarke in recognition of the significant impact he has had by sharing his own experience of mental health problems.

To find out more about Time to Talk Day see here

https://www.mind.org.uk/get-involved/time-to-talk-day-2022/

To find out more about Clarke see here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke_Carlisle

World Alzheimer’s Month is the international campaign every September to raise awareness and challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia. September 2021 will mark the 10th World Alzheimer’s Month. The campaign was launched in 2012 and World Alzheimer’s Day is on 21 September each year.

With that in mind we have chosen Phyllis Logan as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Phyllis is one of the most recognisable faces on British television, having starred as Lady Jane Felsham for eight years in the BBC’s much-loved antiques comedy drama, Lovejoy, before becoming synonymous with another British classic, Downton Abbey, in which she rules the roost as housekeeper Mrs Carson, nee Hughes.

In 1983 she won a BAFTA for most promising newcomer for her role in the emotional drama Another Time, Another Place and she has numerous other film credits to her name, including Nativity! and the Mike Leigh classic Secrets and Lies.

Phyllis is a Dementia UK Ambassador and a passionate supporter of Dementia UK’s work, having witnessed her mother’s struggles with a cognitive impairment and her mother-in-law’s difficulty following a diagnosis of dementia.

She has appeared on television multiple times to promote Dementia UK’s Admiral Nurse Helpline and our Time for a Cuppa fundraiser – each time causing a huge spike in calls.

To find out more about Phyllis see here

To find out more about World Alzheimer’s Day see here

24 July is the Samaritans annual awareness campaign ‘Talk to Us’ also known as the ‘Big Listen’ and with that in mind we have chosen Fearne Cotton as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Fearne Cotton is an author and TV and radio presenter.

She is an ambassador for MIND the Mental Health Charity and lends her support to their major campaigns such as RED January and Time to Talk Day, hosted their Mind Media Awards in 2017 and has visited a local Mind to learn about Mind’s work within the community.

She first publicly opened up about her experience of depression in 2017 before writing HAPPY, a book about finding joy in the everyday and letting go of perfection. Since then, she has released her follow up book CALM and has started her podcast HAPPY PLACE, in which she interviews various individuals about their life experiences, including Mind’s President, Stephen Fry.

Fearne has also launched her Happy Place Festival, previously welcoming Mind to host a pop-up stand at the live event and supporting Mind through the virtual event in 2020.

To find out more about Fearne see here

https://www.officialfearnecotton.com/

To find out more about the ‘Talk to Us’ campaign see here

https://www.samaritans.org/support-us/campaign/talk-us/

Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18 – 23 May and with this in mind we have chosen Duke McKenzie as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Duke McKenzie is a former boxer and three weight world champion and an ambassador for the mental health charity MIND.

In 1995, Duke’s brother, best friend and mentor Dudley McKenzie tragically took his own life. Dudley’s suicide left Duke passionate about mental health, particularly within the sporting world, leading him to actively support Mind for the past nine years.

Duke helped launch Mind’s partnership with Heads Together, giving a taster boxercise class to Prince Harry and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Olympic Park.

He coached boxercise at Mind in Croydon and has recently helped shape Mind’s Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity training, which he also helped launch in 2019.

As an ambassador for Mind, Duke helps to champion the benefits that physical exercise can have in managing a mental health problem.

In 2011 Duke was awarded the MBE for his services to boxing.

To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week see here https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

To find out more about Duke McKenzie see here https://www.dukemckenziembe.co.uk/

World Autism Awareness Week runs from 29 March – 4 April and with that in mind we have chosen Harry Wells as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Harry is a professional rugby player with the Leicester Tigers, a Tigers academy graduate, having gained experience at Bedford and Nottingham, he is now a firm fixture in the first team squad.

He has twin sons Oscar and Theodore and Oscar was diagnosed with autism in 2018.  Harry became an Ambassador for the National Autistic Society in 2020 and works to raise awareness through supporting campaigns and taking part in different challenges. 

He and Oscar were the stars of last year’s sporting challenge ‘7k for 700k’, this year it is known as ‘Super 7 Challenge’.  More details are here https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/world-autism-awareness-week/super-7-challenge

For World Autism Awareness Week 2021 the National Autistic Society have created lots of information and things to do on their webpages including quizzes and challenges and ways to fundraise.

To find out more about Harry see here https://www.leicestertigers.com/news/harry-wells-announced-as-ambassador-for-the-national-autistic-society

To find out more about World Autism Awareness Week see here https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/raise-money/world-autism-awareness-week