"Breaking down the stigma" - organiser celebrates success of Chesterfield ThinkFest

Hundreds of people headed to Vicar Lane to enjoy the splendid sunshine on Saturday (May 20) and to take part in the town’s latest ThinkFest event.

ThinkFest, organised by the Georgia Bird Foundation, aims to promote positive conversations about mental wellbeing and to highlight the support available in and around Derbyshire.

The event saw charity-run stalls, entertainers, speakers, and plenty of food and drink, to demonstrated that opening up about mental health doesn’t have to be daunting.

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Ellie Scott set up the foundation in memory of her friend Georgia Bird who took her own life six years ago. She explained that the three events held so far - in October 2021, May 2022, and May of this year - have gone from ‘strength to strength’ but that this year’s was the ‘biggest and best so far’.

Ellie commented: “The idea is it’s a space where we can get everyone thinking and talking about mental health and breaking down the stigma nad having open and honest conversations that people wouldn’t ordinarily have and encourage those conversations in an informal setting.

“We aim to show people the support that is available and that it doesn’t always have to be talking therapies or seeing your GP.

“We really try to break down the stigma and the stereotypes about what talking about mental health can involve. By having so many stalls, and live performers, in one setting it makes it so much easier for people of all ages to realise the range of services that are available.”

Georgia Bird, who was born in Chesterfield and lived in the town for several years before moving to America, died in Cyprus in 2017.

And Ellie says it is important people realise talking about mental health doesn’t have to be gloomy and to promote positive conversations around mental health experiences.

“After every event we sort of take a look at what went well and what we think could go better but we are really pleased with how the event went. Having it in Vicar Lane with such wonderful weather gave us a really strong footfall and the level of engagement and feedback we got was really positive to see”, she commented.