It's a Mad World!

Well, after a very quiet festive period during which I hunkered down, recharged my batteries and more or less neglected to pick up my camera, I've gone back to work and, it seems, back to Blipping!

Today I hopped the train down to Birmingham to meet with staff from an organisation called Changing Our Lives, which is involved in some similar work in the West Midlands to what we're doing here in Liverpool. Here's Lucy, their lovely Deputy CEO.

I felt quite energised by our discussion on mental health crisis care, the importance of people with lived experience of mental distress holding decision makers to account and being integral to strategic planning and the central role of the arts and creativity in maintaining our mental wellbeing.

As we talked, Teresa May made her big statement on mental health and, in my opinion, it didn't amount to a hill of beans. Re-announcing existing schemes, paying lip-service to the notion of anti-stigma campaigns and 'parity of esteem' with physical health, but not coming up with anything new or radical doesn't fill me with a huge amount of confidence... sigh!

It's gotta be this song for today, then... www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFsHSHE-iJQ