8th May sees the start of Mental Health Awareness Week 2017, and a group of Weymouth guys are marking it with Pizza, Pies & Cider!
Weymouth Gay Group is meeting up in The Stable, Weymouth, on Monday 15th May as a special ‘thank-you’ to Richard Cooper the chain’s co-founder. Richard ran in the recent London Marathon and helped raise a record-breaking amount for Dorset Mind, the local mental health charity.
Richard was quoted in The Bridport News talking about his marathon run, he said, “It is a wonderful local charity where all of the money gets directed locally and it will go to help many people old and young in an area of the mental health service which is pretty much lacking in Dorset and for me that makes it so worthwhile.”
One such peer-support group facilitated by Dorset Mind in Weymouth is MindOut. It’s specifically for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) people. The group is soon to expand from meeting monthly to weekly at the Adult Learning Centre on Dorchester Road. There is also a MindOut LGBT support group run in Bournemouth by Dorset Mind.
Mandy Nicholson, Dorset Mind’s Service Delivery Manager, explained, “LGBT people are at greater risk of having poor mental health as a result of experiencing bullying, harassment, discrimination and hate crime. LGBT people are three times more likely to have anxiety disorders and six times more likely to have depression than heterosexuals. There is a strong association between homo, bi and trans phobic bullying and mental ill health, including low self-esteem, fear, stress and self-harm.”
A spokesperson for Weymouth Gay Group, said, “Several guys from our social group attend and benefit from the MindOut support group in Weymouth. We thought it would be a nice way to thank Richard by meeting up at The Stable, and to also highlight Mental Health Awareness Week. It’s great to see Dorset Mind have plans to expand its services for all people with mental health problems, and we are especially pleased that the Weymouth MindOut Group will soon be running weekly.”
LINKS
To make a booking at The Stable in Weymouth, use one of the following methods –
Tel: 01305 789389. Email: [email protected] Website: stablepizza.com
Dee Swinton
