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Theme „Far away from home”

Location: PTE-ÁOK Romhányi György Aula

Date and time: 2024.04.25. 18:00 óra

Description

We are welcoming two young performers from the United Kingdom who will hold an inspiring presentation in relation to mental health. The aim of the EGSC event is to support PTE Students with their challenges of the exam period and everyday life especially who are „Far away from home”.

Ben West

At just 21 years old Ben has already won a Pride of Britain Award, The Diana Award  and the Mental Health Hero Award as part of the The Sun Who Cares initiative.

He has also spoken on ITV News and BBC Newsbeat, among others, about mental health and has previously worked closely with LinkedIn and their exciting new partnership called ‘Changemakers’.

The sudden and unexpected loss of his brother to suicide four years ago propelled Ben to take positive action from this tragedy and concentrate his pain into a drive to campaigning around mental health awareness and suicide prevention. Through his campaigning Ben strives to fundamentally change how we approach mental health, especially in schools and the education system. #SaveOutStudents has been one of the more recent campaigns he has initiated. The campaign involved creating a petition on change.org calling for mandatory training in mental health first aid for all educators caring for young people across the country. Surpassing the initial aim of 15,000 signatures within a day, the petition has reached over 200,000 signatures to date and planning is now taking place for the signature handover into 10 Downing Street.

Ben has since been made an ambassador for We Are Beyond and also sits on the board of Wagamama, where he supports their amazing Student Mental Health Awareness series: ‘Conversations off Campus’. Continuously working hard to shine a spotlight on young people’s mental health, he has also appeared on Sky & BBC News and has taken part in numerous panels for the M&C Saatchi Group and the Financial Times. Ben has some huge and really exciting projects he is working on at the moment, including the launch of his book in April 2022, ‘This Book Could Save Your Life: Breaking the silence around the mental health emergency’.

Shocka

Shocka, also known as Kenneth Erhahon, is a recording artist and mental health activist. Shocka started his journey in 2008 when he released the single, Beast on the loose, which led him to joining rap group, Marvel. In 2014, Shocka decided to branch out as an independent artist and released his new single, Self Love, in October 2018. His new single reflects his personal journey with mental health issues and how he has come to terms with these difficulties. Shocka believes self love is part of the cure for mental health issues, such as depression, anxiety and low self image. By teaching someone how to love and appreciate themselves – no matter what their background or identity is – he believes it will drastically improve their ability to go through life positively. Self love is humanities healer.

On 26 November 2018, Shocka was featured on a podcast by Roundhouse where he gave his guidance and support to aspiring musicians on how to cope with mental health from the industry, discussing his time as an upcoming artist which lead him to experience a mental health breakdown. In an early 2019 interview with ITV News, Erhanon highlighted the highs and extreme lows of showbusiness. He spoke about his journey from being alongside famous names like Skepta to being dropped by his record company. Shocka was involved in an interview with The Pit LDN on 27 March 2019 to further raise awareness of mental health associated with music. Shocka released his third EP Conscious Crud on 26 April 2019.

Erhanon went on to feature in a 10-episode series called "Mind Yourself" produced by Barcroft Studios. It focuses on young people who have or are recovering from poor mental health and was released on February 14, 2020, via Snapchat whilst also highlighting his own battle with schizophrenia and anxiety disorder.