Despite growing awareness of mental health, stigma remains a significant barrier for many people in Leeds. In workplaces, communities and services, people can still feel judged, misunderstood or reluctant to seek support. That’s why partners across Leeds have come together to launch Change the Narrative – a citywide movement to challenge stigma and create a mentally healthy city for everyone. Leeds Mind is proud to play a part in this important work.
Here, the team behind Change the Narrative explains the work that has happened and how employers can get involved.
Why It Matters for Employers
Mental health stigma doesn’t stop at the workplace door. Employees who fear being judged are less likely to speak openly about their wellbeing, seek support early or ask for reasonable adjustments. This can impact individual wellbeing, workplace culture and organisational performance.
By challenging stigma, employers can help create environments where people feel safe to be themselves, seek support when they need it and contribute fully at work.
Change the Narrative recognises that employers have a vital role to play in shaping attitudes towards mental health and creating workplaces where everybody feels valued, included and supported.
The Rebrand
Leeds has a long-standing history of partnership work tackling mental health stigma, advocacy and changemaking for more than 15 years.
Over the last three years, Touchstone and Leeds City Council Public Health have been leading strategic partnership development through:
- Strategy and planning
- Establishing a core group and network
- A rapid review research project
Following this work, a workshop was hosted in June 2025, bringing together representatives from across sectors to establish what we wanted to achieve over the next 12–18 months.
Participants were asked to imagine what a mentally healthy city looks like, what resources we have available as a partnership, and what is within our collective power to achieve.
One of the priorities identified was to strengthen the anti-stigma brand across Leeds and create something the city could get behind through a shared identity.
While anti-stigma work in Leeds has achieved a great deal over the years, feedback from communities and partners suggested there was an opportunity to develop a stronger, more visible identity that people across the city could connect with and champion. We wanted a name and message that focused not only on reducing stigma, but on changing the conversations, assumptions and stories that shape how mental health is understood, with lived experience voices at the centre.
The Process
First, we needed to understand what people living and working in Leeds wanted to see from this programme of work.
We hosted six focus groups involving 57 people from community organisations, employers, volunteers, individuals and people with lived experience of mental health difficulties. We asked these groups how stigma showed up in their communities, what the current anti-stigma framing missed or got wrong, and what a future campaign should look like.
We then took this insight into a smaller co-design group made up of 12 focus group participants. Working alongside a designer, the group transformed this insight into colours, imagery, messaging and wording for our new name and tagline.
Throughout the process, we ensured the new brand was inclusive, person-centred and shaped by people with lived experience.
Together, the group selected the name, logo and tagline, and from this process, Change the Narrative was created.
Introducing Change the Narrative
Change the Narrative is a citywide programme working to change how mental health is understood and responded to in Leeds.
The partnership brings together individuals, communities and organisations to challenge mental health stigma, amplify lived experience, and change the attitudes and behaviours that shape how people feel supported and included. Our vision is to change the narrative around mental health for good.
Our work is rooted in Leeds Ambitions and the Health and Wellbeing Strategy, which share the ambition for Leeds to be a mentally healthy city for everyone. To achieve this, Leeds needs to be a place where people feel understood, respected and able to express their needs without fear of stigma or discrimination.
Led by Touchstone and the Leeds Public Mental Health Team, we are working to change the narrative through:
Understanding
Building awareness of how stigma shows up across communities, workplaces and services, and the impact it has on people’s lives.
Sharing Experiences
Centring real people’s voices and stories to deepen understanding and challenge assumptions.
Challenging
Questioning myths, stigma and discrimination, and influencing change in practice, culture and systems.
We are encouraging people across Leeds to be part of this work, helping to create a city where mental health is better understood and stigma no longer stands in the way.
Launching Change the Narrative
Change the Narrative launched during Mental Health Awareness Week, beginning on 11 May 2026, with a packed programme of events and social media activity throughout the week.
We hosted information stalls at Trinity Leeds and Kirkgate Market, shared our new campaign online and attended partnership and network meetings to spread the word.
Check out highlights from the launch!
Centring Lived Experience
At the heart of Change the Narrative are our Anti-Stigma Champions.
Our Champions are volunteers with lived experience of mental health, either personally or through supporting somebody close to them. By sharing their stories, they encourage positive conversations, challenge stigma and help people feel less alone.
Since the launch, we have trained seven new Champions in tackling stigma and running events within their communities, with further training planned throughout the year.
One Champion shared:
“I’ve been a Champion in Leeds since 2017 and experienced many great initiatives, witnessing the importance of talking and connecting about our mental health. The launch of Change the Narrative builds on all that past experience and is the most exciting development since the original launch. I’m so proud to be part of taking the work to the next level.”
The voices of our Champions continue to shape the campaign and remind us why challenging stigma matters. Every conversation has the potential to change someone’s experience of mental health.
How Employers Can Get Involved
Whether you’re just beginning your workplace wellbeing journey or looking to build on existing activity, there are a range of ways your organisation can support Change the Narrative:
- Spread the Word
Follow us on social media, sign up for our newsletter and share our content across your own channels. Every share helps us reach more people and challenge mental health stigma across Leeds.
- Introduce Change the Narrative to Your Workforce
Want to help your staff better understand mental health stigma and how they can challenge it? Invite us to deliver a briefing, presentation or awareness session within your organisation.
- Access Our Resources
Download our Change the Narrative Toolkit for information about the campaign, practical resources and ideas that can help promote more positive conversations about mental health in your workplace.
- Become an Anti-Stigma Champion
We are always looking for volunteers who want to use their lived experience to improve how we talk about mental health. Champions support events, workshops, conferences and community activities, helping to reduce stigma and encourage understanding.
Together We Can Change the Narrative
Changing the narrative around mental health is something none of us can do alone. Employers, community organisations, volunteers and residents all have a role to play in creating a city where people feel understood, respected and able to talk openly about their mental health.
Together, we can challenge stigma, create more supportive workplaces and communities, and help make Leeds a mentally healthy city for everyone.
Find Out More
Get in touch directly via email: changethenarrative@touchstonesupport.org.uk
Check out our MindWell page.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.
