This Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re focusing on the theme and power of Taking Action. Because while raising awareness matters, real change happens when people come together to take action for each other’s mental health and wellbeing, whether that’s by supporting local projects through donations or delivering vital work in the community.
As part of this series, we caught up with Kevan Tomlin at Hillside Clubhouse – an Islington mental health charity. This week Hillside Clubhouse members have been exploring mental wellbeing through creative arts, writing, and poetry workshops designed to explore mental wellbeing, challenge stigma, and create space for honest conversations through creativity.
This year’s collaborative installation, This is My Mental Health, uses oversized jigsaw pieces to explore two powerful questions: 1) What inspires you and makes a good day? and 2) What challenges you and makes a bad day? The finished artwork will be unveiled at Wellness Through Words & Music on Thursday 21 May.
Can you tell us about the impact Mental Health Awareness Week activities have on Hillside members?
Hillside Clubhouse is an Islington mental health charity running a varied programme of activities, supporting people to rebuild confidence, re-engage with community & rediscover a sense of purpose. We celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week to promote positive mental health, reduce stigma, and increase public understanding of mental wellbeing. In the lead-up each year, are members participate in a series of creative arts, writing, and poetry workshops designed to raise awareness both within our centre and across the wider Islington community.
Our twice-weekly creative workshops centre around mental health awareness-themed art activities, giving Hillside members the opportunity to express their personal experiences and challenges with mental health through creativity and self-expression.
“We celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week to promote positive mental health, reduce stigma, and increase public understanding of mental wellbeing…” ~ Kevin Tomlin, Hillside Clubhouse
What inspired the idea behind This is My Mental Health, and what does the puzzle piece metaphor represent?
This year, we are creating a collaborative art installation titled This is My Mental Health, using puzzle pieces as a metaphor for the journey of self-discovery and wellbeing. Each participant is decorating two oversized jigsaw puzzle pieces through painting and collage, responding to the themes: What inspires you and makes a good day? and What challenges you and makes a bad day?
Through these individual artworks, our creative group is exploring a wide range of emotions and lived experiences. The completed pieces will eventually come together to form one interlocking collaborative installation, symbolising both the uniqueness of each person’s journey and the importance of connection and community. The final artwork will illustrate the challenges of mental health alongside the people, places, and experiences that inspire, restore, and support wellbeing.
“Through these individual artworks, our creative group is exploring a wide range of emotions and lived experiences. The completed pieces will eventually come together to form one interlocking collaborative installation, symbolising both the uniqueness of each person’s journey and the importance of connection and community.” ~ Kevin Tomlin, Hillside Clubhouse
What do you hope people experience or take away from Wellness Through Words & Music this year?
2026 also marks the second year of our evening event for Mental Health Awareness Week, Wellness Through Words & Music, taking place on Thursday 21 May at Islington’s Pleasance Theatre. This inspiring event celebrates the power of artistic expression in promoting wellbeing and mental health awareness.
Organised by Hillside Clubhouse in collaboration with Beautifully Chosen, the event aims to create a celebratory and inclusive space where individuals and Hillside members can share their journeys through poetry, spoken word, and music. By amplifying diverse voices and lived experiences, we hope to foster healing, connection, and understanding, while helping to break down the stigma surrounding mental health through the arts.
The This is My Mental Health installation, created by our members, will be unveiled at the Wellness Through Words & Music event, providing a powerful platform for members to share their personal experiences, reflections, and journeys through creativity.
Photos: An art installation they are currently working on as part of the Mental Health Awareness Week creative workshops, and some stills from the first Wellness Through Words & Music event last year.
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