Running awareness events

Download our Top Tips for running an event!

Get started with our five step plan

1. Get support in your organisation
2. Find out what else is happening locally
3. Plan your activity
4. Get started
5. Evaluate your activity

Step 1 - Get support in your organisation

Getting senior management on board to support your Time to Change Wales activity is a great place to start. It also sends out a strong message to staff organisation-wide that managers are committed to reducing stigma and discrimination within the workplace and the wider population.

Support from other employees will help your activities gain momentum and bring Time to Change Wales to life in your organisation. We know that talking about mental health is one of the best ways to tackle discrimination, so what better place to start than in your own workplace?

Step 2  - Find out what else is happening locally

Activities are taking place across Wales. Joining forces with other organisations and existing local events means you can share ideas, resources and networks and engage even more people.

Be aware that people may not want to attend an event that’s branded as a ‘mental health event’. So try being present with the Time to Change Wales message at different types of events like local festivals and fairs, where you may reach people who would not necessarily have come to a mental health event.

Find out what’s happening near you.

Step 3 - Plan your activity – who are you trying to reach and what do you want to achieve?

Before deciding on the type of activity you will do, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you trying to reach staff?
• Do you want to engage the local community?
• What are your short and long term objectives?
• What is your budget?

Think about:

• What your target audience may or may not already know about mental illness;
• What their current perceptions might be;
• Where your audience are and how you can best reach them.

Don’t forget to include people with personal experience of mental illness in your activity – bringing people together with and without personal experience is a great way to break down stigma and discrimination. Find out how you can create social contact opportunities at your events.

Step 4 - Get started

First of all – get inspired by finding out what organisations have done.

Then: Decide on your activity

• Register your event with us
• Order the Time to Change Wales materials you will need
• Read our top tips for running a successful Time to Change Wales event!
• Promote your event to the media.

Step 5 - Evaluate your activity

Evaluating your activity allows you to show the impact of your activity to everyone involved in the project – and to potential funders of other activities.

It also allows you to learn from what worked and, more importantly, what didn’t for future activities.

To conduct an effective evaluation you will need to be aware of your project’s desired outcomes and there are many ways to measure your success.

Share your evaluation with us – it will help us build up a body of evidence about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to breaking down stigma and ending discrimination.