DESIGN IN MENTAL HEALTH AWARDS 2023
Awards celebrate desire to ‘make things better’
A heartfelt plea for support for suicide prevention charity, Maytree – which runs a house in London’s Finsbury Park where those with suicidal thoughts can spend 4-5 days receiving support in a calming and non-judgmental environment, and an enjoyable performance from a virtuoso violinist during a networking drinks reception, preceded the presentation of nine Design in Mental Health Awards at an evening event held during the organisation’s 2023 annual conference and exhibition in Coventry in June. The Network’s editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
The presentation of nine 2023 Design in Mental Health Awards took place in the Premier Lounge on the second floor of the Coventry Building Society Arena at the end of the first day of a well-attended Design in Mental Health 2023 event in early June. Following a drinks reception during which classically trained violinist, Soloise – who has worked with artists including Emeli Sandé, Andrea Bocelli, and Kanye West – entertained guests, Master of Ceremonies, Andy Powell, welcomed those assembled, and said it was ‘great to be here again, celebrating excellence, innovation, and achievement, within the design in mental health community’. He thanked Soloise
for her ‘fantastic performance’, and explained that, as with all DiMHN awards evenings, there was a chosen charity partner – for 2023 this was Maytree – ‘an amazing organisation
that supports people in crisis and facing very difficult mental health challenges’. The charity’s’ Chair of Trustees, Terrence Collis, next took to the stage to tell guests a little more about Maytree. Emphasising his many years’ involvement with ‘the suicide prevention world’ (including as a volunteer for the London Samaritans), he said by way of context: “Some time ago, I was at another organisation, and a young woman took us to a hotel where she said she planned to kill herself, having initially called in and talked to one of our volunteers. Fortunately, she didn’t go ahead, and when she subsequently came in to see us at our offices one day, I asked: ‘So that night, what stopped you killing yourself?’ While there many
reasons, she said that in the end she had looked around this really cheap hotel and asked herself: ‘Do I really want to die here?’”
Left: During the pre-awards drinks
reception, classically trained violinist, Soloise – who has worked with artists including Emeli Sandé, Andrea Bocelli, and Kanye West – entertained guests.
A successful psychologist Today, Terrence Collis explained, she is ‘a very successful psychologist’. He said: “So, design is important in all sorts of ways in terms of impact on how people feel, and at the end of my presentation I will show you a film that highlights what Maytree is like.” In the UK alone, he told those assembled, about 6,000 people kill themselves every year – a rate of 16-17 every day. Suicide is the single biggest cause of UK deaths in the under-35s, and men under 50. Against this backdrop, Maytree had set up in 2002 as a ‘refuge for the suicidal’ – where those feeling suicidal can stay for four nights / five days in an ordinary terraced house, supported, and listened to, by highly trained volunteers. Terrence Collis added: “It’s a house in Finsbury Park, and is often called a ‘refuge’ – because that’s what it is. It’s also often called ‘a place of respite’, and many of our guests call it ‘a home’. We have all sorts of guests with a range of problems, but all are seeking a safe place, and someone to listen to them. We have four bedrooms, and a lounge with games and a guitar, but, most importantly, Maytree is a safe place to rest, eat, think, and talk – it’s (as per his presentation’s title), ‘Designed for living’.”
The value of talking Many guests enjoyed simply talking to others, ‘in the kitchen or garden’. “Most tell us what they value most is the chance to come into a ‘normal home’, spend five days away from the terrors they have been living through, and then feel there might be a reason to continue living,” Terrence Collis explained. Maytree has provided such an environment and support for 20 years, but still needs money, volunteers, and ‘recognition that we will not accept 16 people a day in the UK killing themselves’. He said: “This has to be stopped, so I am so grateful for being able to talk to you all like this, and hope you will support us in any way you can; our guests will certainly appreciate it.” He then showed a moving film about the Maytree house – ‘Britain’s only non-medical sanctuary for
10 AUGUST 2023 | THE NETWORK
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