Guest blog – The Ultimate Wellbeing Experience is coming to Bolton!

How a double tragedy inspired the North West’s biggest ever wellbeing event…

A tech entrepreneur whose life was transformed by a double tragedy is putting the finishing touches to the North West’s biggest ever wellbeing summit.

Lancashire-based Stephen Robinson (pictured above), 51, lost his brother and brother-in-law to suicide in the space of just eighteen months – the experience, and his own subsequent mental breakdown, inspired the father-of-two to establish It’s Mental, a tech-powered on-line community designed to help people self-manage their mental and physical wellbeing.

Now Stephen is planning the Ultimate Wellbeing Experience in a bid to break the mental health cycle and help educate the North West public that prevention is better than cure.

The event, which takes place at the University of Bolton Stadium on February 3, is expected to attract up to 2,000 people across ten different Wellbeing Zones and will feature a host of celebrity names including former footballers Clarke Carlisle, Steven Reid, John McGinlay and Fabrice Muamba who famously suffered a cardiac arrest during a televised FA Cup match ten years ago. Other inspirational figures from across the region will also be attending – Manchester bomb survivor and Pride of Britain winner Martin Hibbert and Zee Jogi, the only British Muslim woman to achieve two Guinness World Records after climbing both Kilimanjaro and Everest.

Stephen said:

“I’ve been on a transformational journey since that terrible eighteen-month period between 2016 and 2018 and this feels like the culmination of all the hard work we’ve put in since we established It’s Mental in 2019. The reality is that in the UK there’s a huge mental health gap and I saw the opportunity for technology to increase engagement in the early stages of Mental Health decline and prevent people from dropping into severe depression and even crisis. This is what we’re trying to achieve with It’s Mental Live.

“The idea of the Ultimate Wellbeing Experience is to bring people together so we can better understand the state of mental health in the UK and help educate them that prevention is better than cure. As everyone knows, the last three years have been an incredibly challenging time for our local communities with COVID-19 and more recently the cost-of-living crisis. People have been isolated for long periods of time, away from friends and family, and this has caused a wave of mental health problems throughout the UK.

“The NHS, already stretched to breaking point, has been placed under even more strain with the increased demand for mental health services and this will continue to grow unless we start promoting social prescribing people to other therapies, services, activities and community projects that will support them and enable them to self-manage their mental and physical wellbeing.

“We also want to educate North West companies and their employees and help them create a positive wellbeing culture – we hope this event can turn the spotlight on this vital issue, but at the same time we all need to remember that mental health is not just about an awayday, it needs to be every day.”

The Bolton event in partnership with Bolton Wanderers in the Community will provide the opportunity to participate in a range of wellbeing coaching sessions, physical activities, holistic therapies, nutrition and the chance to get involved in community projects. There will be demonstrations throughout the day and stands to purchase products and services.

Phil Mason, CEO of Bolton Wanderers in the Community, said:

“This time of year can be really tough for many people, and this has been exacerbated by cost-of-living concerns along with the impact of Covid-19. This is why the club, through Bolton Wanderers in the Community, is working with ‘It’s Mental Live’ and encouraging people to take control of their mental health and come to the event to be educated, inspired, motivated, supported and most importantly happy.”

Team Boo will be hosting a stall in the Workplace Wellbeing Zone and you will also find Becci, our founder and Director, on a morning panel discussing all things compassionate leadership and workplace wellbeing!

The ten different zones are as follows:

Activity Zone
Nutrition Zone
Physical Health Zone
Sports Zone
Mindful Zone
Financial Wellbeing Zone
Workplace Wellbeing Zone
Givers Gain Zone
Holistic Health Zone
Self Help Sessions Zone

Some of the region’s largest organisations will be represented and plan to share how they’ve tackled mental health challenges in recent times and the positive impact these interventions have had on the workforce. There will be over 30 holistic treatments and therapies available including hypnotherapy, acupuncture, regression therapy, reflexology, body massages, reiki healing, energy and frequency treatments, EFT Tapping and many more.

To find out more about It’s Mental Live 2023 just click here

Press Contact – Grace Grieve – Grace@pinklabradorpr.co.uk

Stephen Robinson – Founder – stephen@itsmental.co.uk

Bolton Wanderers in the Community – Press Officer – dpeters@bwitc.org.uk

Guest blog – The Ultimate Wellbeing Experience is coming to Bolton!