Blue Monday 2017 was organised by Bristol City Council, a Learning City, Cash Pointers, Citizen’s Advice Bristol, Pennywise and Talking Money in order to showcase the range of advice and support services in Bristol. The event provided a unique one-stop-shop for Bristol residents to find out about the range of support on offer and have informal chats with a range of experts. Over 60 local organisations were involved, offering support on money, housing, benefits, physical and mental health, refugee rights, getting into work and training, volunteering and more!

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In addition to the advice on offer there was a range of activities to inspire positive changes. Over the course of the day there were 5 cookery demonstrations, 43 visitors received massages and 85 received ear acupuncture, 12 people took part in a mental health Mandala workshop, and lots of smoothies were blended on the Wheels-to-Work smoothie bike. These health and wellbeing initiatives were very well received by the public and offered a fun, lively buzz in the Galleries.

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The event attracted an additional 1,500 visitors to the Galleries shopping centre and a visitor questionnaire collected feedback from 102 responses from members of the public on the day. This enabled the organisers to analyse what advice they received, how people heard about the event, and how useful they found it. An overwhelming 96% of respondents said they would recommend the event to a friend!

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Download the report for Blue Monday 2016 here.