Faris

Well, it's been a busy, often stressful and sleep-deprived week but it's also been pretty productive and inspiring. Not least because of this man.

He's called Faris and he first arrived in Liverpool as a child refugee from Sudan. Despite the trauma of his childhood and the many adjustments he had to make as he adapted to life in this country he's become an adult who's a major asset to this city and this country. Much of this he attributes to the youth organisations, housing providers and other support agencies which helped him through his adolescence but much is undoubtedly also down to his own strength of character and creativity. He's a writer, guitarist and big fan of '70s rock music as well as being a community activist and excellent communicator on the subject of mental health. To give you an idea of his caliber, I urge you to read this recent story about him in the Liverpool Echo www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/bus-driver-who-stopped-route-10569467

Today, Faris was a guest speaker at a community consultation event we held to launch the planning of this year's Liverpool Mental Health Festival which will take place in October. He talked about his own mental health and the way that local organisations, his friends and the wider community have supported him and how we all need to support each other. He made a lot of fans.

And today's video link isn't to a piece of music but to an extremely powerful and moving short film made by Faris himself. It speaks volumes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ecy7rQlyAtM

I talked to him about the video today and told him I was planning to put a link to it here. He said that making the video and posting it online had been a significant factor in improving his mental health and that by sharing his feelings with others he had begun to feel better and that others had similarly begun to share their feelings and stories with him - which was beneficial all round. I think there's a lesson for us all there.