‘Sticks and Stones’ team went along to the Positive Action Awareness Event

On Tuesday 10 July, the ‘Sticks and Stones’ team went along to the Positive Action Awareness Event for local schools at Walton Hall and Gardens in Warrington, and ran a workshop for the children around mental illness, learning disabilities and stigma.

60 pupils and their teachers from a range of schools across Warrington came along to the event, which included talks from founder of Disability Awareness Day, Dave Thompson, and Rachael Johnston, who bravely shared her moving story of her personal battle with anorexia and depression with the group. To round up the event, the ‘Sticks and Stones’ team ran a workshop for the children, including a quiz and an exercise where children were each asked to literally throw away a stigmatising word, as a gesture to stamp out the stigma around mental illness and learning disabilities.

The event was part of a series of events as part of Disability Awareness Day Week 2012, in the build-up to the main event that took place on Sunday 15 July.