Celebrating creativity and challenging perceptions of personality disorders
While mental health is the focus of one day in October (10th), Emergence, a service user-led organisation, who support people affected by personality disorder (PD), has chosen the remaining 30 days in the month to create awareness of personality disorder and raise much needed funds to continue to educate and fight the stigma associated with this poorly understood mental health condition.
“The Emergence Fundraising Month, called Open the Parachute, will include four activities - a staged reading of Sharon Pollock’s ‘Blood Relations’ by the Resurgence Theatre Company on October 13, and two fundraising concerts (Open the Parachute) also presented by Resurgence on October 9 and 23 - as well as a film screening of Tony Gammidge’s work.
Performers donating their time for nothing more than a desire to help Emergence include: Ortis Deley (The Gadget Show) Lisa Bowerman (Dr Who, Casualty) Susan Franklyn (Casualty, Soldier, Soldier, Lynda La Plante’s, ‘The Governor’) and our very own Kayla Kavanagh, recently returned from a highly acclaimed show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and currently working on her second album.”
I would encourage anyone who is keen to support the excellent work that Emergence does, or who wants to find out more to come along to any of the following performances, which all promise to be of exceptional quality!
The work which Emergence does is so important to me as they campaign tirelessly to change attitudes and challenge the stigma associated with personality disorders and in the process create a safer, more supportive world. It has been a privilege to be a part of their work, both as musician at various events and KUF Trainer, and I am keen to continue to help raise both the profile of Emergence and funds to help them carry on with their ground-breaking work. I have pledged 10% of my next album’s crowd-sourced funds to Emergence, and am delighted to be involved in their upcoming official fundraising activities around World Mental Health Day.
For further information and to book tickets, visit Emergence
For Kayla's story please see here