2023 Mental Wealth Festival Highlights

Festival highlights

The festival provided us with many highlights this year, making it quite a challenge to single out a few highlights; but we’ve given it our best shot.

If you’re concerned about missing the sessions this year, worry not! City Lit offers a range of health and wellbeing courses year-round that we encourage you to sign up for.

Additionally, in 2024 we’re celebrating the silver anniversary of the Mental Wealth Festival. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the special events we’re planning to mark this momentous occasion.

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Monday – Haikus at The National Gallery and ‘The Bridge’ Panel Discussion

We started the week at The National Gallery with Pearl May leading a haiku-writing workshop, offering participants a soothing escape from those Monday morning blues.

The evening gave us our first panel discussion in collaboration with ‘The Bridge’ titled ‘Authenticity Beyond Appearance’. This thought-provoking session delved into society’s fixation with appearance and its connection to the rise in eating disorders. Some of the brightest young minds in the field offered us their valuable insight, including Dr Ally Jaffee, Dr Chukwuemeka ‘Chuks’ Nwuba, and ‘The Bridge’s’ own Katrina Rawson-McKenzie who discussed some of the personal, social, and cultural barriers that must be addressed in our collective effort to to combat the issue.

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Tuesday – Embracing Midlife and the Challenges of Being Bi-Polar in a Deaf World

To honour World Mental Health Day, Tuesday was jam-packed with a vibrant array of workshops, engaging speakers, and enlightening discussions.

City Lit’s Cultureplex played host to two of the day’s standout speakers: Stepanie Daniels and Richard D France. In her talk, Menopause Coach Stephanie encouraged us to embrace midlife, rather than shy away from it, teaching us some handy solutions to help empower us through this tricky time. Later in the day, Richard shared his experiences of being bi-polar in a deaf world and the effect this has had on his mental health, in a talk that was as much heart-warming as it was heart-breaking.
Back at the National Gallery, Gallery Educator Marc Woodhead delved into the connections between paintings, sparking compelling conversations as attendees explored the interplay of colour, line and design in two different pieces of art. 

To round off the day, City Lit’s own Ian Tucknott hosted a fascinating panel discussion, unpacking the prominent issue of men’s mental health, and how authentic social connection can provide the supportive pillars for our psychological health and wellbeing. 
The line-up of speakers included video producer and co-founder of Byte Entertainment Jon Salmon; founder and director of the Noisy Brain Stu Mills; Yashoda Rodgers, the public programmes manager at 64 Million Artists; former rugby league player Luke Ambler; and Proper Mental podcast host Tom Davies.

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Wednesday – Humour Through Adversity and Clarke and Carrie Carlisle

Amongst an array of interesting and informative workshops, Wednesday’s keynote events proved to be truly captivating.

EAP consultant Garth MacAnally gave us an honest, funny, and educational account of how humour can help us through some of the darkest of times. Akin to the topic area, many of left the session with a smile on our face!

Ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle and his wife, journalist Carrie Carlisle headlined the evening session. Being interviewed by City Lit Principal Mark Malcolmson, the pair opened up about their own mental health struggles both individually, and as a couple, in what proved to be one of the highlights of the entire festival.

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Thursday – ‘Super Helper Syndrome’ and the ‘Out of Mind’ Exhibition

Jess Baker, author of ‘Super Helper Syndrome: A survival guide for compassionate people’, was a ‘super’ addition to Thursday’s proceedings. She discussed childhood messages, irrational beliefs and helping dynamics in what proved to be a deeply meaningful conversation for all those involved.

‘The Out of Mind’ exhibition and panel discussion also proved to be a huge hit. Showcasing some of the best art from City Lit students, the building was buzzing with excitement and the fascinating panel discussion delved into the stories behind the artists and their art. An all-round great evening!

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Friday – Ballet at the Royal Opera House and Harmonising the Mind

One of City Lit’s partners, The Royal Opera House, hosted one of the highlight events of the week. Putting on a moving performance of the story of celloist Jacqueline du Pré, Royal Ballet dancers wowed Mental Wealth Festival attendees. For those interested in seeing ‘The Cellist’, it is running at the Royal Opera House from 20 October to 2 November.

It was performances aplenty on Friday, as Rob Stephenson spruced DJing elements into his talk about ‘harmonising the mind’ at City Lit. He talked about how music can both represent and play an integral factor in our mental health.

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Saturday – Panel discussions with UCL and The Bloomsbury Festival

On the last day of the Mental Wealth Festival, City Lit partnered with University College London, and The Bloomsbury Festival to host captivating panel discussions. The first panel, titled ‘Encouraging healthy growth in specific populations’ brought together five experts with research backgrounds in issues such as vision impairment and eating disorders. They delivered an in insightful conversation regarding the challenges faced by individuals living with these conditions.

The back-and-forth conversations between panellists and audience continued into the second discussion ‘Why education matters for growth’. Hosted by Dr Rebecca Gordon, the team discussed their research into the optimum conditions for human development.