We’re delighted to be welcoming Dr Amy Pollard as our new writer in residence!
Amy is Founder and Director of Mental Health Collective, an organisation whose mission is to help people find new ways of coming together and connecting more deeply. A social anthropologist by background, Amy has been leading innovative work in the not-for-profit sector for over twenty years. Her first piece for the Centre will explore the concepts of banishment and loneliness from a mental health perspective.
You can join Centre for Mental Health and Mental Health Collective on 10 September 2021 for a webinar exploring the roots of loneliness in mental health by registering here.
On becoming the Centre’s new writer in residence, Amy said: “It feels incredible to be appointed as writer in residence at Centre for Mental Health – what an honour! I used to think that mental health difficulties were just tough times to get through. Best case scenario, I thought our personal struggles were an opportunity to learn about ourselves. But after years of dealing with these challenges myself I’ve seen how they can offer something on a broader level – helping us see societal and political challenges in a different way. We can bring more imagination, meaning and wholeness to our collective lives in twenty-first century Britain. Through this writing I’ll describe how.”
Welcoming Amy to the Centre, chief executive Sarah Hughes said: “We’re delighted that Amy Pollard will be our third writer in residence, following from Mark Brown and Ramone Whittle. Our writer in residence scheme aims to share creative and challenging ideas about mental health, to break boundaries and open up new ideas and debates.
“It’s been a joy to have Ramone Whittle in the writer in residence chair this past year and to share his thought-provoking journeys of self-discovery through his writing. Ramone’s final piece will be published shortly.”
To get alerts on Amy’s writing join her mailing list.
