Kaya

It's the second national Time to Talk Day today - the object of the day being to tackle the stigma that still exists about mental health - or, more specifically, mental distress - by getting people to have conversations about mental health with friends, family, colleagues and strangers.

This sort of thing is our bread and butter at work and something we try to do every day but there's also lots going on across the city today in particular to bring people together and underline the point that most of us are likely to experience both good and bad mental health throughout the course of our lives - just as we have ups and downs with our physical health.

Tonight I attended a fantastic cabaret evening devised and performed by mental health service users and those working with them in a creative (and decidedly non-clinical!) capacity. It was a great night featuring singer-songwriters, performance poets, comedy sketches, a photography exhibition and some rather tasty nibbles! It was also an opportunity to meet and talk to new people about what keeps us emotionally on track and what we do for support when we're feeling less good. And, most importantly, it was fun!

One of the performers was the lovely Kaya Herstad Carney who's a marvellous singer, songwriter, musician and vocal coach and who has worked with us over the past couple of years as Director of our World Mental Health Day Choir.

Kaya's originally from Norway but has been living here for over a decade and is really involved in all manner of arts activities not only with her band The Science of the Lamps but as a Director of Liverpool's grassroots Threshold Festival.

Very excitingly she's just finished recording her first film soundtrack - look out for 'My Lonely Me', filmed in Liverpool and coming to a cinema near you soon! It's due to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival later this year... Surely the Palme d'Or is in the bag!