King's College London

South London Listens was formed by community leaders from South London Citizens, local NHS Mental Health Trusts, NHS commissioners, and local council leaders, after recognising the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on mental health. South London Listens is working with these founding partners, alongside NHS South London and Maudsley (a King’s Health Partner), to support the south London community, help limit the longer term impacts of the pandemic on mental health and wellbeing and to support recovery.

 The South London Accountability Assembly was a celebration of the progress South London Listens has made on pledges from their priority areas, including loneliness, social isolation and digital inclusion; work and wages; children, young people and parental mental health; and access to mental health services for migrants, refugees and diaspora communities. These priority areas were built on the input of 6,000 people across south London, including King’s students, and form an action plan to help address these issues.

 The assembly heard from community organisations, including Parent Power and Empoderando Familias, who discussed how low pay is a mental health issue. These are both King’s community organising projects that support families navigating the education system and were developed by King’s Social Mobility and Widening Participation department alongside Citizens UK.

 Two campaign pledges highlighted during the event, Be Well Hubs and Safe Surgeries, are King’s partnerships. Working with Citizens UK, King’s Social Mobility and Widening Participation department is helping set up and support. The hubs aim to destigmatise mental ill-health by offering support and providing a place where people can speak about their mental health. Safe Surgeries, a partnership between South London Listens and King’s, encourages GPs to become Safe Surgeries. This includes tackling barriers faced by migrants accessing healthcare. The NHS Trusts involved in South London Listens – NHS South London and Maudsley, South West London and St. George’s Mental Health Trust and Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust – all agreed to endorse the Safe Surgeries campaign at the assembly.

 Michael Bennett, Associate Director of Widening Participation at King’s said: “As a longstanding partner of Citizens we know the impact community organising can have in our local boroughs, communities and neighbourhoods. The South London Listens initiative is the only example of its kind in the country and is so important now, with the most vulnerable communities bearing the brunt of the pandemic.

 “In King’s Social Mobility & Widening Participation department our mission is to make access to university more equal, and a key part of this is by addressing barriers students face to achieve their goals. We do loads to prepare more students to apply for and get into university, and to succeed with us while they are here. We are doing dedicated work to help them improve their grades and power. But education doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Teachers, learners and their families have told us that mental health is vital in getting on at school and being able to flourish.

 “We have developed the Be Well Hubs in schools to provide mental health support in new accessible ways as a core part of our work to address inequalities. We want to support our communities to learn well and live well, with the safety and security of positive mental health wherever they go to school.”

Before closing the event, each NHS trust agreed to commitments connected to South London Listens priority areas and the assembly set out their vision for transforming south London’s mental health system through a continued partnership between local communities and the NHS.

Sir Norman Lamb, Chair, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust said: “We were delighted to come together on World Mental Health Day 2022 to demonstrate our commitment to action and creating lasting change for our communities – which is stronger than ever.

 “We are pioneering a new approach to partnership, building stronger relationships, sharing power, listening, co-producing solutions and taking action to overturn the inequalities which have a devastating impact on mental health.

 “We know the lasting psychological impact that Covid-19 has had on people’s mental health and wellbeing. Now with the cost-of-living crisis impacting so many people’s lives, our work together has never been more important.”

Hosting the South London Listens Accountability Assembly further supports the King’s civic work within King’s home boroughs in London. It also supports the university’s focus on mental health as King’s aims to make a demonstratable contribution to the wellbeing and health of local communities.

World Mental Health Day, which is on 10 October every year, is a global day for mental health education, awareness, and advocacy. This year’s theme, set by the World Federation for Mental Health, was 'make mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority'. Find more information here.

All images used in this article are owned by Sylvie Pope and Citizens UK.