Live music at Place Luxembourg on 10 October: World Mental Health Day suicide prevention focus

DJ Eugene performs live at Place Luxembourg on 10 October from 18.00-22.00 to raise awareness of depression among young people on the international mental health day.

The 12 Hours for Life event on Thursday sees the Viral bpm DJ spinning life-affirming tracks, including a playlist commemorating Swedish DJ Avicii, who took his own life in April 2018. People of all ages are invited to come along to listen, dance for life and have the opportunity to talk to various mental health organisations attending the event.

It was Eugene’s own struggle with anxiety and burnout that inspired him to launch suicide prevention music events twice a year. While performing a four-hour set on Thursday evening, he plans on staging 12-hour shows in the future with the backing of EU Events, Rotaract Brussels Capital - International Club and the Viral bpm electronic dance music website. Their collective aim is “to show people struggling with depression that they are not alone”.

World Mental Health Day 2019 is focusing on suicide prevention, highlighting the fact that every 40 seconds someone loses their life to suicide. In underlining the scale of the problem, it invites people to question the role they can play in helping to prevent it.

Brussels-based NGO Mental Health Europe is one of the groups present on Thursday evening. Committed to promoting positive mental health across the EU, its advocacy and policy officer Marcin Rodzinka said: “Raising awareness during public events such as 12 Hours for Life is an opportunity to break stigma around mental health so that more people can reach out for help. We know that suicides are preventable. We also know what works and what doesn't. Together, we can save lives and stop suicide by advocating for mental health-friendly policies and by creating a mental health-smart culture that make suicide prevention a priority.”

Other organisations joining The 12 Hours for Life event are:

CHS Belgium The Community Help Service CHS runs a 24/7 volunteer crisis & info helpline in English that is anonymous and confidential. It also has a mental health centre with multilingual psychologists, psychotherapists and psychiatrists offering support to the English-speaking community, among others.

People To People International - Europe The network of culturally knowledgeable global citizens believe that it is through connecting people across borders and cultures that we build the relationships that create understanding. The mission of People to People International is to offer multinational experiences that foster cross-cultural learning, develop global leadership skills, and connect with an international network of people committed to improving the state of the world.

Zelfmoordlijn 1813 – België The Dutch-speaking organisation for the prevention of suicide.

Centre de Prévention du Suicide – Belgique The French-speaking organisation for the prevention of suicide.

Business Improvement Districts - BIDs Belgium With its project Analogue to Digital, it is active in the mental health sector with initiatives such as ‘designing healthy communities’. Projects are initiated around founder Rozina Spinnoy’s personal experience with close family members who suffer mental health challenges.

Art for Wellbeing A Brussels practice for children, adolescents and adults run by an integrated art psychotherapist who believes in the power of creative expression as a means of helping  to express feelings when words are not enough. The approach works effectively with anxiety, depression, grief and general feelings of negativity and unhappiness.

Felser Ltd PAGS®️ (Profile Assessment and Goal Setting) is an innovative web-based assessment and progress monitoring tool. A digital communication platform for skill development in neuro-diverse learners aged 5-25 with social communication difficulties, related to social, emotional behavioural and cognitive functioning. Developed to help teachers and professionals set and monitor goals for learners with social thinking difficulties, to produce an individual learning plan, showing learners’ strengths and areas for development, to provide strategies and resources to support teachers and parents, PAGS®️ supports inclusion and measures progress in social, communication, cognitive and self-regulation skills.

Erasmus Mundus Association A network for students and alumni of all Erasmus Mundus Joint Programmes.