Bid to create 'first' mental health friendly town

A councillor has trained 60 people as part of his drive to create what he believes will be the country's first mental health friendly town.

Adam Parkes, chairman of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council, started training mental health first-aiders in Biddulph, Staffordshire, towards the end of 2024.

The Labour councillor, who lives in the town and represents Biddulph North, has had his own struggles with mental illness and nearly took his own life about 10 years ago.

He told BBC Radio Stoke he was "saved by strangers" and went on to create non-profit mental health organisation Taking off the Mask in 2019.

Parkes said the number of people who had come forward for the first aid training was impressive for a "relatively small, rural town" like Biddulph.

He said the concept of a mental health friendly town went "far beyond" training first-aiders.

"Wherever people congregate – shops, pubs, leisure centres churches, there are always going to be people in those groups who are struggling," he added.

Parkes said his hope was to have enough residents who could spot when people were having difficulties and would know how to reach out to them.

"By and large, people find it easier to talk to strangers than professionals," he said. "People find it difficult to reach out to professional mental health services but, on top of that, we know how much mental health services are struggling."

Councillor Dave Proudlove, Labour councillor for Biddulph West, was one of those who undertook the training.

He said he lost a close friend to suicide some years ago, adding: "He was the type of person you would not have expected it to have happened to."

Proudlove said the training had been "incredibly useful", especially in teaching him how to spot signs of mental illness, along with "the ability to listen".

"When I say listen, I don't mean hear what someone's got to say, I mean genuinely listen," he added.

"The training is one of the best things I've ever done and I urge anybody who has the opportunity to do it... it could help save somebody's life."

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