Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service has signed the Mind charity’s Time to Change pledge.

The pledge recognises the service’s commitment to challenge mental health stigma and promote positive well-being for its staff.

A small launch event was held at the service headquarters in Tolvaddon which was attended by Cornwall Council cabinet member for communities Geoff Brown and Cllr Des Curnow, as well as guest speaker Russ Hayton of Cornwall and Isles of Scillies Drug and Alcohol Action Team.

Community Safety Manager Tamsin Lees said: ’We are proud to have signed up to the Mind pledge and to be supporting our staff’s well-being. We will continue to tackle the stigma and negativity around mental health and look forward to developing this work further over the next year.’

This pledge signing was followed by the service taking part in #TimetoTalk Day run by the charity Time to Change last week, which aimed to spread the word that you don’t need to be an expert to talk about mental health. Time to Change is England’s biggest programme to challenge mental health stigma and discrimination and is run by the charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.