The University of Worcester is inviting the public to a World Café event to discuss and address stigmas.

Set for Thursday, February 1 from 10:00am at the Arena, the event is expected to provide a secure environment to encourage individuals to identify, understand, and consider ways to mitigate such stigma in their day-to-day lives.

The event has been organised in collaboration with the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Wellbeing and Recovery College, which, since its founding in 2021, has collaborated with the NHS, as well as public sector and voluntary organisations.

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The college's ultimate aim is to present a broad range of user-friendly learning opportunities with an emphasis on mental health and wellbeing.

The World Café coincides with Time to Talk Day—the nation’s most extensive mental health conversation organised by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

This year, the event is in partnership with Co-op, marking a third year of collaboration.

Time to Talk Day encourages friends, families, communities, and workplaces to engage in dialogue, listen, and change lives.

The organisers said: "The more conversations we have, the better life is for everyone.

"Talking about mental health isn’t always easy and sometimes it’s even harder to say how you really feel.

"But a conversation has the power to change lives."

The structure of the World Café event encourages attendees to discussing stigma in small table groups, and developing ideas to combat it.

The negative impacts of stigma can be diverse and coupled with mental health, can be exponential.

Areas of life that may attract stigma include mental health, disabilities, long-term health conditions, identity, age, career status, body size or shape, homelessness, gender, unemployment, socio-economic status, and many other aspects.

Those who attend the event are invited to engage in group discussions, offer alternative perspectives, understand more about support and resources in the area, and connect with other attendees.

Running concurrently with the World Café is a marketplace showcasing local resources and support organisations where attendees can further gather information, advice or help with mental health and wellbeing.

Bookings for the event can be made on Eventbrite, or for more information, email HW_WellbeingRecoveryCollege@comfirst.org.uk.