Tag: CALM

A Sense of Calm

I was out with a group of lovely people yesterday, February 29th 2016. Towards the end of our Leap Day 2016 adventures, we found ourselves in the foyer of The National Theatre. Those who felt like it, made some art. The intention is to give the art away, leaving behind a trace of Leap Day for others to discover. I’ve given some away and so have others, and I have a few more pieces to distribute around London very soon.

In addition to the art we made, I painted an extra piece, reflecting a sense of calm in the way we worked together. My recent river pictures have been very calming to make too, and I expect there is something of that in this painting too.

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This work is now sold.

I Don’t Wanna Talk About It

Male suicide is the second biggest killer of young men in this country, yet the problem remains largely ignored. When you think that we’re often brought up to believe that boys don’t cry, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise that so few people feel able to talk about how they’re feeling.

In an attempt to understand this problem more deeply and to see if more can be done to raise awareness of the issue, I’ve agreed to spend some pro bono time with the Campaign Against Living Miserably (or CALM for short), a charity established to help reduce the high suicide rate among young men.

CALM are particularly interested to learn more about how they can use social media to campaign more effectively on behalf of the people who need their services, and don’t yet know they exist. And this is where you come in. I thought it would be interesting and useful to throw open the question, ‘how can we use the social sphere as a means of raising awareness of male suicide?’ to you too.

I’m visiting the CALM offices this Friday – it would be great to have some thoughts and ideas from you that we could play around with by then. Please speak up, I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And if you’d rather contact me privately feel free to use the contact us page of this website.