Run your own event

Your passion to make a difference near you is exciting! The resources on this page will help you plan, deliver and follow-up a successful mental health event. It's not usually possible to find an 'expert' to speak but, with the help on this page, we want to equip and empower you to run your own. With you, we can get the message out there.

Preparation

Mental and Emotional Health can be a sensitive topic, so prepapration is key. We wold suggest a small planning group, or atleast two of you. The Mind and Soul Foundation started with two friends blogging, then a few people meeting once a month - so anything is possible!

We've written this article -  Make a Difference Near You - to help you think through the stages. Youor event doesn't need to be big, but it will be so much more effective and helpful if you plan beforehand and consider what might come afterwards.

Planning

Put on a Mental Health Sunday as a way to get peoples attention. The main event can be suitable for everyone with things like a testimony, a short talk [maybe based on our sides - see below] or a Question and Answer session. Resources for all these are in our Mental Health Sunday article.

Resources

Videos: our Youtube page has lots of videos you can use for free to show at our event. A good one to use is our short promotional video.

[promo video]

We have also prepared a one-hour training video with accompanying handouts and discussion questions.

[training video]

Postcards: we have a template for postcards you can use to advertise your event, or give to attendees. Download this file for a local or online printer.

  [two sided postcards]

Slides: we have developed 15 slides come complete with speakers notes. Please feel free to add your own slides or leave out any that are not relevant. Download slides [15.3MB]. You will need to have a copy of Microsoft Powerpoint to edit these slides, but you can open them with the free Powerpoint Viewer.

[powerpoint slides]
 

Follow Up

You will want to have thought about follow-up before you run your event. In fact, we recommend that any event is best run out of an establised and ongoing group. The 'make a difference near you' article you read earlier explains more about this.

However, we also know that any event is likely to generate more questions than answers - which is why you can direct people to The Mind and Soul Foundation website so they can explore things at their own pace.

Before running any event, you should also know about emergency supports near you and what to do is someone becomes very distressed. Also, see our 'get urgent help' article.

We wish you all the best for your event and will be praying for you.