JONNY BENJAMIN
Jonny Benjamin MBE is an award-winning mental health campaigner, film producer, public speaker, writer and vlogger. Jonny speaks publicly about living with mental illness and has written articles and given various interviews on TV, Radio and in print around the world to help educate and break the stigma. He has also produced and presented documentaries on BBC Three and Channel 4 on the subjects of mental health and suicide, including his 2014 social media campaign with Rethink Mental Illness to #findMike, the man who talked him out of jumping off a bridge when he was suicidal, that went viral and led to Jonny becoming a prominent spokesperson on the subject of suicide.
In 2016 Jonny launched ThinkWell, a mental health programme for schools, which has so far been into secondary schools across the UK with huge success. Jonny spent 2017 writing the first of 2 books on mental health that was published in May 2018. His second book, currently titled The Book Of Hope, will be a collection of quotes, poems and stories by himself and others to inspire recovery and hope and will be published in 2020.
In 2019 Jonny launched his new mental health charity, Beyond Shame Beyond Stigma, together with Neil. Beyond Shame Beyond Stigma is a grant-giving organisation which aims to provide mental health support to young people, their families and teachers.
RACHEL KELLY
Rachel Kelly is a keynote speaker, bestselling writer and mental health campaigner, and former Times journalist, as well as an official ambassador for mental health charities, Rethink Mental Illness, SANE and The Counselling Foundation.
Rachel's memoir about her experience of life-threatening depression, Black Rainbow: How words healed me: my journey through depression, was a Sunday Times bestseller in 2014 and has resonated ever since. In 2020 it will be published by Larousse in France and has already been translated into Swedish and published in the USA and Canada. Her second book, Walking on Sunshine: 52 Small Steps to Happiness, is an international bestseller and has been published internationally; and In 2017, she co-wrote The Happy Kitchen: Good Mood Food with the nutritionist Alice Mackintosh, a happiness-focused cookbook which offers over sixty recipes that promote mental wellbeing, it has been published in the USA and Canada. Her latest publication is titled Singing in the Rain: An inspirational workbook – 52 Practical Steps to Happiness, published in 2019.
LEMN SISSAY
Lemn Sissay MBE is the Chancellor of The University of Manchester and a trustee of The Manchester International Festival, patron of the Letterbox Club. He is a fellow and trustee of the Foundling Museum and was the official poet of the London 2012 Olympics, and his Landmark Poems are installed throughout Manchester and London. He has authored books of poetry alongside articles, records, radio documentaries, public art and plays. The BBC documentaries Internal Flight and Child of the State were broadcast about his life, and his TED talk about childhood has three-quarters of a million online views.
In 2019, Lemn released his memoir 'My Name Is Why', focusing on the hurt and institutional neglect of his time in care, which would later become The Sunday Times Bestseller, as well as a book of the year in the Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, Sunday Times, Observer, New Statesman, Metro, Daily Express, and The Herald.
RACHEL BAILEY
Having suffered from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since she was a young child, university student Rachel Bailey is passionate about sharing her experiences and spreading awareness for OCD, as it is often a misunderstood condition.
She set up a York support group in 2015 and is a member of the charity OCD Action.
LUKE MORDUE
Luke Mordue is not only a contributor to the documentary but also the Writer & Director of the film as well. After a suicide attempt a year after the opening of Mordue Pictures, Luke decided to delve deeper into mental health conditions through the work of storytelling and film, resulting in an award-winning short film 'Smile', winning the Peoples Choice Award at the Mind Rights Film Festival in Portugal.
Since then, Luke has written and produced several short films, produced a feature film, has written a novel. He now also hosts the 'Urban Legends' podcast that, at the time of writing, is in the to 1% of Podcasts worldwide with thousands of weekly listeners.
SAM DALLING
Sam Dalling works as a lawyer in London. He suffers from anorexia and wants to raise awareness that men can be diagnosed with the condition as well.
Sam completed a number of 10k and half marathon runs in 2017, raising money for the charity Men Get Eating Disorders Too. He has written an article on his experiences and thinks it is important we tackle the notion that mental illness only affects a certain demographic.
PROF. CARMINE PARIANTE
Carmine M. Pariante is a Professor of Biological Psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, and a Consultant Perinatal Psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust.
He investigates the role of stress and inflammation in the pathogenesis of mental disorders and in the response to psychotropic drugs, both in clinical samples and experimental settings. He has published over 330 papers, and his current H-Index is 72. He is also the appointed Editor in Chief of the journal Brain Behaviour and Immunity and a 2018 Clarivate AnalyticsHighly Cited Researcher.
Carmine has received numerous awards for his research, most recently the 2012 “Academic Psychiatrist of the Year” Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the 2015 Anna-Monika Prize for Research on Depression, the 2016 PNIRS Normal Cousins Award for Research in Psychoneuroimmunology, the 2017 Andrea Leadsom Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Infant Mental Health, and the 2017 NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award. This last award is one of the most prestigious international research awards in psychiatry.
PROF. PETER KINDERMAN
Peter Kinderman is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Liverpool, and was previously President of the British Psychological Society between 2016 - 2017. His research interests are in psychological processes underpinning wellbeing and mental health.
He has published widely on the rose of psychological factors are mediators between biological, social and circumstantial factors in mental health and wellbeing. He is also interested in the application of such psychological science to public policy.
DR. EMILY MACDONALD
Dr Emily MacDonald is an experienced GP and an aesthetic practitioner. She qualified from St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry in 2002 and also has a 1st class honours degree (BSc (Hons) 2001).
She worked for several years in anaesthetics prior to training as a general practitioner. She is also a member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP).
DEREK TRACY
Derek Tracy is a Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Director at Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, London and he is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience, King’s College London.
Derek has published over sixty peer-reviewed papers and seven book chapters, most on psychopharmacology and psychosis.
ADAM TORR
Adam Torr is a mental health campaigner who, alongside a group of incredible friends founded 'The Sides of March' after losing their friend to suicide in 2016. It is a campaign to encourage men to grow sideburns in March in hope to draw greater awareness to male suicide.
All proceeds are donated to the suicide prevention charity Campaign against living miserably (CALM).
DR ANTONIA MURPHY
Antonia Murphy is a UKCP registered psychotherapist with over 25 years of clinical experience. She has developed her long term clinical interest in working with suicide into training, which has been delivered to over 40 universities and other settings.
Antonia's new book 'Out of This World: Suicide Examined' approaches suicide from the point of view of the suicidal state of mind.
