CENTRE:MK UNVEILS NEW CHILL OUT ZONE

To celebrate Mental Health Awareness week, we are opening our new ‘Chill Out Zone’ for visitors who want to spend a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping centre.

Mental Health Awareness Week is organised by the Mental Health Foundation to get people thinking and talking about mental health to help tackle the stigma surrounding the topic and encourage people suffering to seek help. This year’s focus is anxiety, which according to a recent poll by The Mental Health Foundation, is one of the most common mental health problems we face.

The new ’Chill Out Zone’ is located on Midsummer Arcade by John Lewis and partners, in a quieter area of the centre away from the crowds. There are comfortable chairs where customers can sit and be surrounded by some of the plants, shrubs and trees that centre:mk is famous for. The centre is currently undergoing a major refresh of the 54 planters in the malls, including the introduction of 8,000 new plants and trees and spending just 10 minutes around plants is known to boost our mood and relieving stress and anxiety.

Centre Director, Kevin Duffy said, “It is really important that we are accessible to all and we go beyond the expected. We know that a busy shopping centre environment can become overwhelming for some, so we wanted to create a relaxing and quiet space where we can all take time out, relax and regroup, until they feel ready to make the most of the fantastic retail offering and choice of restaurants in the centre. It’s the perfect spot to have a break and simply enjoy the surroundings”

Local poet, artist and chef Yaw Asiamah has created two poem's for Mental Health Awareness Week, ahead of the extraordinary exhibition of poetry launching at the centre later this month. Have a read below...

BE MINDFUL OF ME

You may not always understand
The one who lives within 
this skin
All I ask of you, my people
Is that
you be there for me
When I’m walking in my sunshine 
Brother
You be there for me
When I step into that tunnel 
Sister
Still be there with me
When I’m driving on the highway
Mother
You be there for me
When I’m flustered in the forest 
Father
Still be there for me
It’s an incredible great miracle
That I am still here today
I’m hurt more by your fears
Than those voices that I hear
You see
you can fix a broken hand
Cure an ulcer mend a knee
you will even delve much deeper 
to try to mend a broken heart
but when it comes to the mind?
Some are mindful of me
And others,
Most others
Just don’t mind me
All I ask of you, my people
Is that
you be there for me
When I’m walking in my sunshine 
Brother
You be there for me
When I step into that tunnel 
Sister
Still be there with me
When I’m driving on the highway
Mother
You be there for me
When I’m flustered in the forest 
Father
Still be there for me.
I was me 
Before my illness
I’m still me.

By Yaw Asiyama

Mental Health Awareness Week.
Wrote this for STaSS. A great organisation. www.stass.org.uk

Do You Mind (Open letter to Anne Xiaety)

Do you mind?

Do you really?

Where do you think

I think?

I am immersed.

Overloaded with info

with no knowledge

and I don't know

where to go.

I sit right at the edge

of everywhere

and I strive to get there

but there is nowhere.

There was here

now here has been stopped,

gone.

My countenance

so constantly tries

to beguile you.

All lies.

In truth, I fear

that when here reopens

I may no longer

fit in there.

Help me.

Hear me.

By Yaw Asiyama