A film designed to combat the stigma and prejudice often associated with mental health issues was launched at Jewish Care’s Martin B Cohen Centre for Wellbeing in Edgware on World Mental Health Day.
Park Bench was written and produced by some of the charity’s mental health educators in association with Magpie Motion Productions.
It features service users discussing the challenges of living with mental health issues and talking about their efforts to overcome their problems.
One of those appearing is David Wolreich, who believes that viewers will be profoundly affected.
“We have created a piece of work that enables our team to engage even more fully with audiences at schools and during workshops,” Mr Wolreich said.
“Mental health is a term that arouses an array of different prejudices and I hope that people who see this short film will get a better understanding of what it means to be affected by mental health issues.”
The 80 people at the launch included service users, their families and friends, staff and volunteers.
Mental health educators from the centre undertake a considerable amount of outreach work, running 12 workshops a year with schools, GP surgeries and synagogues.
They are also invited to speak to non-Jewish groups.