[over|dinner}

One of the best things about volunteering at NEST is that I've had the opportunity to meet so many inspirational people, many of whom are women (my little belated contribute to International Women's Day). Well a couple of Wednesday's ago I had the joy of spending time with some more by going to a session of [over|dinner}, a blog about discussing things that matter over dinner. The hosts were Kezia and her friend Monica, the creators of the website (and wonderful cooks), and we were joined by Matthew and Shien Mien.

When Kezia messaged me about going to the dinner, I was really excited to have the opportunity to take part, so much so that I wrote most of this before I'd even stepped into their house. From the moment I first got a seemingly random follow on Instagram from [over|dinner}, I saw how special the concept was. Kezia described it to me as being a safe space to talk about important topics and I think that the ability to feel comfortable when discussing these things is vital and can only be a good thing.

This time the topic of choice was mental health. Mental health is impacted by anything and everything, whether it’s as big as your upbringing to something as small as the colours on the walls around you. Whatever your experiences, mental health affects all of us and the people we're surrounded by, so it's pivotal that we talk about it more and get rid of the stigma surrounding such an important part of our lives. If we don’t, suicide will continue being the biggest killer of men under 45. Thank you to Kezia and Monica for carrying on the conversation.

On the night, we all made important points and were surprisingly honest - surprisingly because we were all in the company of at least one stranger/person we didn't really know - and ended up having a fantastic evening. There's so much that can be said about mental health, but I’ll leave you guys to follow the link to the [over|dinner} post about mental health so you can read their two cents: https://waroengnewcastle.wixsite.com/home/single-post/mentalhealth I'd also really recommend reading their other posts and staying subscribed, it really is a wonderful website. Happy voluntravelling, The Voluntraveller If you are having any issues personally or you know someone who needs help, then there are professionals that you can contact, some of whom (UK) are listed below. CALM Nationwide: 0800 58 58 58 CALM London: 0808 802 58 58 Samaritans: 116 123