Warriers of Wellbeing poetry slam
They teamed up with local poetry organisers, WordMustard for an inspiring night of poetry featuring renowned poet, Scott Tyrrell. There was a raffle on the night with great prizes with over £300 raised for Weston super Mare Samaritans.
The Poetry Slam is part of a series of poetry events across the country. The open mic and Slam attracted more than 10 entries. Topics included mental wellbeing, relationships and life, love and the universe and it was wonderful to see some entrants willing to share their experience of mental health issues.
Raffle prizes included an excellent piece of original art by local artist and Warriors of Wellbeing supporter Helen Wheelock of Create Together; helper for the day, Amazon vouchers; meal for 2 at Loves and gift hampers.
Joe, director of Weston super Mare Samaritans, said
“This was a great night to raise money and awareness around mental wellbeing and we are grateful for the monies raised. The Samaritans now has a freecall number 116 123 which has seen our calls increase. We are always in need of new volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Gill on 07507 990599 of checkout www.samaraitns.org”
After the success of our world mental health day event in October we are delighted at the turnout and the money raised for the Samaritans.
Stephen Budd, from Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership added
“Throughout history, people with mental health challenges have used creative media, such as poetry to express human emotion both good and bad. This evening of poetry has hopefully raised awareness around our wellbeing. Mental health affects us all and we must continue to challenge mental health stigma which so often holds people back from seeking help. We are grateful to Loves Café and WordMustard for being our hosts for the evening. In the spirit of creativity, North Somerset AWP have appointed their first creative writing recovery peer, who will be bringing the power of the written word to our acute inpatient ward in Weston super Mare.”
The next Warriors of Wellbeing event will be national Time to Talk day run by mental health charity Time to Change, on Thursday 1st February. This aims to get people talking about mental health and we are looking for any café owners in North Somerset to promote this. Anyone wishing to support this event or Warriors of Wellbeing contact Stephen Budd on stephenbudd@nhs.net
Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123
