A Pole Apart

My working day today has mostly consisted of one 6 hour meeting in 3 different venues, all related to our ongoing preparations for World Mental Health Day on 10th October.

I started the day at the Kuumba Imani Centre to discuss plans for this year's 'Mental Health and Me' writing competition with our colleagues at Writing on the Wall and to prepare for a press launch a week today. I can't go into too much detail ahead of the official launch but it's going to be another corker!

Then it was over to FACT to meet with Asia (pictured above), Jakub, Noor and Dorcas to talk about Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee (BAMER) involvement in this year's celebrations. Again, there will be loads of exciting, creative and fun activities taking place. Watch this space...

Asia is one of the key movers and shakers at Merseyside Polonia, North West England's biggest Polish community organisation, and she's a real dynamo!

It's great to see the local Polish community taking such an active part in city life and being real leaders in cross-community partnerships and organisation. Back in 2006/7, just a couple of years after the EU expanded to include Poland and 7 other central and Eastern European countries, I was working at a social policy research unit at the University of Liverpool and my biggest area of work was an examination of the social and economic impact of migration from Poland to the North West. I conducted scores of interviews with newly arrived Polish people over a couple of years and was impressed right from the get-go by what an interesting - not to mention, well educated - bunch of folks they are. I went on to become friends with several people that I met back then and my conclusion then, as now, was that they are an asset to this country. Indeed, the official figures show that, contrary to what some in the media would have us believe, EU migrants make a net contribution to the life and economy of this country rather than being a drain on resources. Over the last decade they've made a net contribution of £20 billion - paying way more in taxes than they receive in benefits. Just saying!

The final part of the day involved an update meeting with our World Mental Health Day programme leads at NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group's HQ and then back to FACT for the preparation of a press release about the 'Dignity in Mental Health' art exhibition which will run from 9th - 12th October in a venue to be announced next week...      

Never a dull moment.