On Saturday morning Myself and the CVFM Radio team attended the local Park run event at Albert Park in Middlesbrough, a local park run which takes place every Saturday morning, which is attended by many keen Middlesbrough runners this weeks park run was organised by Fiona Helyer, a Public Health Officer from Middlesbrough Council. This weeks park run was different as it was focusing on Alcohol Awareness week in the UK, it was centred around Suicide in the UK, how alcohol effects people taking their own lives. The Event was aiming to get people open up and have conversations about Mental health and how alcohol can be related to people taking there own lives.
As many people are aware even in today’s society there is a very big stigma about people openly talking these important subjects, the event was attended by many important Mental health organisations that are based in Middlesbrough such as the mental health charity the Samaritans also Middlesrough Mind ,we spoke to the organizer of the event Fiona Helyer ,also runners taking part in the event and asked them why such events and more open conversations about mental health and alcohol abuse in the Middlesbrough area also raise awareness on both subjects.
When speaking to the Fiona Helyer the event organiser,about the run taking place she told us in relation to focusing this years campaign in to Alcohol Awareness Week,after she spoke to many services in Middlesbrough she discovered a number of people in our area had taken there own lives,alcohol was linked to a numbers of these suicides,she felt it was important this year to link the campaign around suicide . Her main focus is to raise awareness about suicide,to tell people there are local support services in our area who can help anyone who is suffering to also open up a conversation about these subjects,overall to share with people who are suffering there is help and support out there for them.
To raise awareness of the impact suicide has on people,13 of the runners taking part in the run wore black morph suits and were wearing the number 13 on there outfit this was to represent the 13 people who take there lives every day in the UK. The phrase used by the event was (Dont bottle it up). We also spoke to many of the runners taking part and asked there own thoughts on the event and why they believe raising awareness is important on such important subject,many told us they felt exercise is really good way to combat mental health issues,also have more opening conversations about mental health was important to try help people who are suffering with problems.,the reaction from runners was very positive they felt the event was helping tackle the issue of suicide in the UK we need more events like this to take place.
Over 100 people and many more attended this event on raising awareness on suicide and alcohol awareness, its a great way of raising awareness on these subjects,getting more people to open up and having these very important conversations, make people in Middlesbrough aware they are support services for them if they are suffering,I feel we need more events like this to tackle issues surrounding suicide in the UK. As I am someone who is very passionate about promoting mental health in the Teesside area it made me very happy to see such an event taking place in Middlesbrough and to see so many people attend talk about mental health. If you would like to hear more coverage of Saturday Park run event and listen to more interviews tune into CVFM radio 104.5FM on Tuesday from 6PM with myself and Anna Woodcock.
Article by Chloe Tempestoso
Project Middlesbrough 