On the 6th June, the King’s Global Health Institute (KGHI) held our flagship event to raise awareness for our 2020 initiative on mental health. We organised an Instagram live audio therapy session to bring our community together and support each other to maintain and improve mental health and wellbeing. We were honoured to have been joined by an outstanding line up of speakers and musicians from all over the world including Okiem, Ariana Sfre, Alisha Popat, Professor Dixon Chibanda and Carly Wilford. They shared their music in addition to discussing their research on the power of music on our physical and psychological health, focusing on this particularly with regards to Covid-19.
At the start of the academic year, the King’s College London Global Health Ambassadors convened to discuss what our main themes would be for 2019-2020. All ambassadors were in agreement that mental health was an important area which needed to be addressed and given a greater platform. It was an easy and unanimous decision that this would be our theme for the upcoming year. Following the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdown, it seemed that we could not have chosen a better time to be focusing on this topic, given that a lot of people were struggling with separation from families, self isolation and the uncertainty that has come with the battle against the pandemic. The KGHI ambassador team had to persevere to spread positivity by adapting our original plans of a gathering and performance, for an Instagram live event.
Coincidentally, the event took place whilst over a quarter of a million people had gathered outside the London United States Embassy for the Black Lives Matter protest. We took this opportunity to pay tribute to George Floyd and the countless number of people whose lives have been lost or affected by racism. In light of recent events, in addition to discussing mental health, we also spent some time focusing on racism and and how we can take a step in the right direction together as one human voice. Our speaker Ariana Sfre tuned in from outside the embassy to give us a taste of both the energy at the protest, and the change that is going on in human consciousness around the world.
Furthermore, it was inspiring to learn about initiatives that have been devised such as the Friendship Bench scheme which Professor Dixon Chibanda created in Zimbabwe and it has since been established all over the world including New York and Malawi. The TED Talks speaker explained that this is a primarily community driven project which directs people experiencing mental health and wellbeing concerns to a bench where trained people are able to support them through their struggles. He explained how this is currently particularly important given a general increase in domestic violence cases following lockdown around the world and how his team is working hard to develop a variety of digital platforms to maintain government guideline for social distancing.
Additionally, our speakers shared their advice on how to stay mentally fit such as mindful practice in daily routines, helpful apps and the importance of being kind. We would like to say a huge thank you our host Okiem for sharing his powerful music and helping to highlight the importance of empathy, respect and conversations around mental health and wellbeing. During one of the most difficult times in recent history, we hope that this event has shown viewers the power of music to transcend words, improve mental health and make the world a better place.
Check out The Friendship Bench site here and Carly Wilford’s here.
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Ayla Mahmud is a 4th year Dental Student at King’s College London. She previously completed a Biomedical Science BSc and has a particular interest in dental public health. She recently completed a summer programme studying dental public health at Harvard University. She is from London, UK with Pakistani heritage.