#PuttingMeFirst – capturing people’s stories of hope, courage and change

We’ve been putting mental health first for individuals and communities for the last three decades. To mark our 30th birthday we’ve made a film which captures people’s stories of hope, courage and change. Called #PuttingMeFirst, the film shows the power of supporting people to find out who they really are.

We held the premier of Putting Me First at We The Curious on Wednesday 22 November to an invited audience of decision makers. The event was a great success with special guest the Mayor of Bristol describing the evening as powerful and the film inspirational. Do take a few minutes to watch the film on our YouTube channel below. If you feel inspired – which we hope you will – please join our #PuttingMeFirst campaign. Scroll down to find out how.

Why #PuttingMeFirst?

We believe mental health funding and mental health services will be radically different in 30 years time – if Government and mental health organisations take a new approach. Our approach.

Our approach includes:

• Changing the system so mental health is as important as physical health. Currently people with mental health problems in Bristol die 20 years earlier because their physical needs are not addressed
• Integrating health care so we stop wasting money on two systems when there should be one
• Putting the individual centre stage so people’s recovery can be both quicker and more lasting. In this way people can be more successful at discovering their strengths, hopes and dreams and we can help demedicalise the system allowing people to be more than their diagnosis
• Supporting people in a way that encourages resilience so they are better placed to cope with life’s traumas such as homelessness, debt and relationship breakdown
• Offering peer support – that’s support from trained staff who use their own experience of mental health problems to support others. We know people will recover more quickly and be less likely to need hospital care with peer support.

Take Part

We are asking you to take part in our campaign. There are a number of ways you can do this.

You can make a short 30-60 second video to upload to social video telling us about your experience, and why you believe in #PuttingMeFirst. Jonny Benjamin MBE has done just that.

Or you could send us a picture or a simple tweet with your thoughts. Remember to always use the hashtag #PuttingMeFirst so that we find your posts! And follow us on Twitter and Instagram to follow what others are saying.

We will also be running regular updates in our quarterly newsletter, to keep up with what we are doing, please sign up on this page.

Take a look at our other campaigns here.