intu Milton Keynes will be encouraging its visitors to stop and chat for Time to Talk Day (today,Thursday 6 February) as part of the national campaign to start conversations around mental health.
A new seating area outside Charles Clinkard has been turned into ‘Chatty Chairs’ where visitors can speak to each other or charity Mind BLMK about mental health.
Mind BLMK is joining forces with intu Milton Keynes on Time to Talk Day, which encourages everyone to be more open about mental health, by meeting with visitors and staff and raising awareness about conditions such as anxiety and depression.
The Chatty Chairs area will host other mental health events during 2020 and remain on the mall throughout the year to encourage more conversations between visitors.
The initiative is being launched at intu centres nationwide under intu’s strategy to raise awareness of mental health among its visitors and staff.
Shelley Peppard, centre director at intu Milton Keynes said: “This forms part of our commitment to reducing the stigma around mental health and encouraging more open and honest conversations around mental health and wellbeing.
“Working with important organisations on initiatives such as Chatty Chairs is one way we feel that we can make a real difference to the million people a day who visit our centres.”
Hayley Mattacks, fundraising manager at Mind BLMK, said: “One in four people will experience a mental health issue each year, with one in six people experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety and depression) in any given week.
"Mental health is something we all have and here at Mind BLMK, we aim to ensure that everyone in Bedfordshire, Luton, and Milton Keynes can get support when they need it.”
Never miss news or leisure info in Milton Keynes - Follow us on twitter here
And on Facebook here
