Department chairs lecture in support of World Mental Health Day
Posted on 29 September 2017
Professor Simon Gilbody, Director of the Mental Health and Addictions Research Group, will be chairing a lecture as part of a series of activities organised by the University of York to mark World Mental Health Day on 10 October. Professor Gilbody's research on depression in old age is making huge waves with policy-makers and practitioners in this often neglected but extremely important field of healthcare.
The lecture, given by author and activist Harry Leslie Smith, is entitled "Don't let my past be your future" and is based on Harry's new book and is a follow-up to Harry's Last Stand. It is both a survival guide for today's generations and a memoir about persevering through difficult times with one's dignity and optimism intact.
Speaker biography:
Harry Leslie Smith was born into extreme poverty in Barnsley in 1923. He survived the Great Depression by working as a child labourer and served his country in the RAF during the Second World War. Afterwards he returned to civilian life by marrying and, along with many from his generation, helping to lay the cornerstones of the welfare by becoming an engaged citizen.
At ninety-four, Harry is an activist for the poor, the NHS and the preservation of social democracy. He is the author of five books and a frequent contributor to the New Statesman, Daily Mirror and Guardian, for whom his video essay on the refugee crisis was shared over a million times on Facebook and has attracted huge comment and debate. Refusing to go gently into that good night, Harry now hosts a weekly podcast. When not on the road speaking about his life experiences, he divides his time between Yorkshire and Ontario, Canada.
Admission is by ticket only and can be booked via https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/public-lectures/autumn-17/my-past-your-future/