There is a really great thing going on in Bristol over the coming week. It is called the Freedom of Mind Festival, and it is a week-long series of events examining mental health issues from different angles. There’s a launch party which will raise funds for Off the Record (and therefore helps keep my amazing friend Henry in a job). There are workshops and films and art events. Nathan Filer will be dropping by for an event on the Thursday. And there will be a discussion panel at City Hall on Monday where local politicians will be asked what they are doing about mental health. One of the people asking awkward questions will be me.

This all comes out of the work I have been doing on the West of England “LGBT Manifesto”. There’s a whole bunch of us involved in that, and mental heath provision is going to be a major plank of what we are asking for. It also comes out of all the trans awareness training work I am currently doing for Bristol Mental Health. We had a planning meeting for that today and they were really positive and keen to get as many staff as possible trained. I will of course be armed with this fine survey done by my colleagues at The Diversity Trust on the health needs of LGBT people in the Bristol area. And as I have an MP on the panel with me I might just mention the Trans Equality Inquiry and the lack of action thereon.

There are, of course, many other social groups as well as LGBT folks who have major mental health issues. But given that up until very recently trans people were deemed insane simply for being trans I think we have a special stake in this and I’m delighted to be involved in the event.