Where’s Your Head At? campaign goes to Parliament

Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the ‘Where’s Your Head At?’ campaign petition was this morning presented to Parliament at a special event held at the House of Commons. The petition launched during Mental Health Awareness Week 2018 has collected nearly 200,000 signatures, highlighting widespread public support for the call to protect mental health in the workplace.

Led by mental health campaigner and Youth Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Natasha Devon MBE, Bauer Media UK and Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, the campaign is calling for a change in health and safety guidance to ensure all employers make provision for mental health first aid in the workplace in the same way they do for physical first aid. 

Senior business leaders, politicians, celebrity advocates and representatives from across the mental health sector gathered in parliament to celebrate the campaign and join calls for more business leaders and politicians to lend their support as it progresses to its next stage. Addressing the room was MHFA England CEO, Simon Blake; CEO Bauer Media UK, Paul Keenan; Head of Strategic Projects, WHSmith, Alison Garbutt; and Natasha Devon MBE.

Student advocates gathered earlier in the morning on College Green in Central London to lead calls for the government to debate the petition in parliament, as students from University of the Arts London exhibited specially-commissioned campaign artwork.

Later in the day Luciana Berger MP, who sponsored the event, led a delegation of representatives from MHFA England and Bauer Media to Whitehall to present the campaign petition to No. 10 Downing Street. 

Since its launch in May the campaign has received cross-party support from a number of politicians including Norman Lamb MP, Luciana Berger MP and William Wragg MP. 'Where’s Your Head At?’ has also been backed by a host of celebrity advocates including Rachel Riley, Bryony Gordon, Professor Green, Tom and Giovanna Fletcher and Kem Cetinay, and was recently endorsed by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

You can find out more about the campaign and sign the petition here.