\n\t\t\tMORE THAN 180 Silhillians put their best foot forward to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.<\/p>\n
Solihull\u2019s Men Walking and Talking group teamed up with Solihull Women\u2019s Stride Squad on One Big Walk in Malvern and Bruteon Park.\n<\/p>\n
The groups wanted to bring men and women together from all walks of life to show the community that no one has to face things alone, and that support, connection, and conversation are always within reach.<\/p>\n
The groups were joined by Solihull Mayor, Councillor Annette Mackenzie, for the walk.<\/p>\n
\nThe Mayor of Solihull said: \u201cIt was a real privilege to join the One Big Walk alongside dozens of group members and local residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theme for mental health awareness week this year is action, and a great action for residents to consider is joining one of the mental health walking groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cDanny and Keeley\u2019s groups provide great support for anyone who may be struggling with their mental health, providing a safe space for people to gather together and talk about any issues they may be having.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danny Smith, founder of Men Walking and Talking, wrote on social media: \u201cWe aimed to scale up last year\u2019s Mental Health Awareness event by combining with the Stride Squad and delivering a joint gathering with the aim to show community spirit and improve mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am still pinching myself when I say 182 people were in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cA truly phenomenal evening, incredible vibes, amazing comments and the best local spirit a town could want.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Malvern Park also features a designated Buddy Bench, which features a QR code that signposts people to resources and support, with more information available here. The bench offers a convenient location for people to take a moment, sit and talk about their mental health with someone.<\/p>\n
The gates at Malvern Park have signage reminding residents \u201cYou are not alone\u201d, with cards containing the same message placed on benches throughout the park. The buddy bench and signage have been installed by the council\u2019s contractors, Veolia.<\/p>\n
\nKeeley Skelding, group leader of Solihull Women\u2019s Stride Squad, said on social media: \u201cOne Big Walk originally began with Men Walking and Talking Solihull last year \u2014 and that walk is actually where myself and Vicky first met. Without even realising it at the time, it became the beginning of what would later become Solihull Women\u2019s Stride Squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo to come together this year with Danny and Men Walking and Talking Solihull to make it even bigger and better felt really special\u2026 and together, we did exactly that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t just a walk. This was community. This was kindness. This was people choosing to show up for one another.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MORE THAN 180 Silhillians put their best foot forward to mark Mental Health Awareness Week. Solihull\u2019s Men…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":961090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,748,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-961089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116577495069364808","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=961089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/961089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/961090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=961089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=961089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=961089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}