By Terrileigh Wilkinson
HIGH STREET giant Marks and Spencer has joined forces with comedian Ruby Wax, a leading mental health campaigner, to launch the Frazzled Café.
The partnership will launch mental health awareness chats fortnightly around the country.
The event will be held in Leeds, at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, on Sunday April 17 at 7.30pm.
Isobel Daniels, a 22-year-old adviser from Middleton, who has suffered mental health problems, believes the café will help people talk about their feelings with people who are experiencing the same problems.
Ruby Wax at the launch of her tie up with M&S at the London Book Fair at the Olympia, London. Her Frazzled Cafe will run in M&S stores
Photo: Alexandra Wyman/SilverHub 0208 004 5359
She said: “I think the café is definitely a good thing, but I think it takes a lot for people to talk about it in my opinion.
“It’s nice to be somewhere, where you can socialise with people who suffer with the same problems, not only to talk about your problems, but to be able to just talk normally with someone that understands you.
“It’s not nice to talk about mental health sometimes, but been with people who understand itself can be a way out of feeling the constant fear of being unwanted.
“The event will be something I’m thinking of going to, hopefully there will be people who are confident in speaking out about their mental awareness.”
M&S said the Frazzled Café will take place after hours and will be led by volunteers.
Stephanie Staunton, founder of Nailing Mental Health said: “I think it’s a great idea but it’s a shame it has to be done. Why can’t people talk freely about it? You wouldn’t have a café to discuss heart disease.
“But it’s a great move by M&S and I hope more businesses follow in highlighting what I feel is one of the world’s biggest issues.”
M&S said that the purpose of the meetings are to give space where people are able to communicate with others who understand how they are feeling, a place where it’s ‘okay to not be okay’.