South London Listens – Mental Ill Health Prevention and Recovery Community Summit

Whether it is dealing with the virus itself, losing your job, feeling isolated, or the tragedy of losing a loved one, we have all had a very personal experience of living through this pandemic.

In 2020 the UK experienced the biggest decline in GDP since the 1920s, and during the first three months of this year 21% of adults experienced depression, more than double the level in 2019.  

For some of us its effects will be short lived, but for others Covid-19 will cast a long shadow as they begin to rebuild their lives. 67% of young people believe that the pandemic will have a long-term negative effect on their mental health. 

Time to act

Since last year, 350 community leaders have been bringing their communities together to talk about their personal experiences and codesign solutions that will have a lasting impact.  

More than 5,700 people have shared their stories and ideas. At this summit they will present their asks around four key areas that have significant impacted their mental health since Covid-19 and need to be urgently tackled: social isolation, work and wages, young people and parental mental health and access to services.  

Hundreds of members of our communities will be joined by NHS Mental Health Trusts, local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and NHS Commissioners who will all be asked to pledge their commitment to take specific actions.  

By pledging their support, this summit marks the beginning of a two-year mental ill health prevention and recovery programme to turn the tide and help create strong, resilient and healthy communities.  

The journey so far 

In summer 2020, the Mental ill-Health Prevention and Recovery Programme was formed in response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of our communities.  

Driven by the three mental health Trusts in south London (South West London & St George's, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Oxleas NHS Trust), the programme has had strong support from all local authority partners (councillors and leaders), South West London and South East London Integrated Care Systems, Healthwatch organisations and several community organisations including faith leaders, head teachers, students, governors and more.  

The programme has established a Taskforce, hosted three community summits, and commissioned and delivered theSouth London Listenscampaign in partnership with the charity Citizens UK.  

Between November 2020 and March 2021, the campaign heard from 5,732 people across South London and focused on reaching groups disproportionately affected by mental ill health. There were also ‘mini-summits’ in several boroughs, attended by community leaders and MPs to share their experiences and ideas.  

Throughout March and April 2021, these events were complimented by an online survey which was completed by nearly 600 people.