Uplifting Image Photography Competition 2017 - prize winners announced

Local MP Siobhain McDonagh and SWLSTG Chairman Peter Molyneux presented the winners with awards at Springfield University Hospital.

Our digital photography competition invited people to submit an image of something that makes them happy to help challenge the stigma around mental health. The competition coincided with our Mental Health Month and supports the national Time to Change campaign. The competition was open to local primary schools, staff at the Trust and the public living and working in south west London.

Winners were presented with gift vouchers and a framed copy of their winning image. Winners included:

Chairman Peter Molyneux said:

“This is our third year running our uplifting image competition – and the submissions continue to get more creative and more interesting.  This year we opened up the judging to the public and to the staff and want to thank everyone who took the time to cast their vote and have their say.

“We had over 500 votes cast online and via email which shows how powerful imagery. The themes that clearly connected everyone were hope and resilience, which is a powerful message to think about during mental health month.”

The event also celebrated our nursing development team which raised over £2,000 for the Trust Charity through organising a very successful comedy night in Tooting earlier this month.

The Trust celebrated October Mental Health Month with over 50 events across south west London. The theme this year was ‘talk about it’ which aims to encourage discussion around mental health and stamp out stigma and discrimination.

We ran over 50 events across south west London throughout October, including:

• Celebrating Black History Month with poetry, music and storytelling in our Springfield University Hospital and Tolworth Hospital canteens
• Annual Trust staff football competition on 6 October at Wimbledon
• To celebrate World Mental Health Day: students and members of the community and will transform the Recovery College with a  ‘Butterflies and Banner’ creative art session at the Recovery College on 10 October
• A celebrity comedy Night Fundraiser for the Trust Charity which raised over £2,000
• 9^th Black Mental Health Conference and Black History Exhibition as part of Healing Our Broken Village Conference on 26 October
• Recovery College  courses for staff, patients, their carers and family throughout the month
• Trust podcast series for Mental Health Month – weekly conversations with mental health professionals in October

David Bradley, Chief Executive at South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust, said:

“We know that one in four of us will be affected by mental illness at some point in our life and that 9 out of 10 people say that their problems are made worse by experiencing stigma and discrimination.

These events are a great opportunity for the community to find out more about the work that we do and to get actively involved in challenging the stigma and discrimination that people with mental health problems still face today.

We would like to thank all of our event partners for helping us reach out to south west Londoners and I would encourage as many people as possible to get involved.”

You can view a wrap-up of our events at: https://storify.com/SWLSTG/mental-health-month-2017

You can find out more information about our campaigns here: http://www.swlstg-tr.nhs.uk/mental-health-month.

Notes to editors:

• South West London and St. George's Mental Health Trust (SWLSTG) serve 1.1 million people across the London boroughs of Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Sutton and Wandsworth and employ more than 2,000 staff who provide care and treatment to approximately 20,000 people from south west London and beyond at any given moment. The Trust also provides a range of national specialist services.
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