Black Dog Journey

Homer wearing a coat designed by contemporary artist Duggie Fields with the theme ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ in the Victoria Quarter, Leeds.

“It can be easier to say that we are having a Black Dog day, or that the Black dog is on our shoulder, when we want to express painful moods and thoughts that are difficult to communicate. We hope that people will find a new language to convey inner feelings like anxiety, depression and loneliness.” Marjorie Wallace CBE

News, views and tweets

People with depression are at greater risk of physical illnesses and early death.

SANE’s Black Dog Campaign received prime media coverage across national press and popular broadcast radio, including The Observer, Evening Standard, British Medical Journal and BBC Radio London. The campaign has captured the imagination of people - old and young alike. It is helping people to ’frame’ their darker feelings as something visible and tangible.

One in five people will experience depression at some point in their lives and one in 20 will suffer severe depression.

Depression and anxiety lead to more working days lost than any other health condition, and it is estimated that in 2010, £8.97 billion was lost in earnings due to people being unable to work.

On the social media front, Stephen Fry, Beverley Knight, and Alastair Campbell have led a chorus of tweets. “I’ve had family members touched by the ‘Black Dog’ and it was a cathartic and healing experience visiting the sculptures”. Tweet from a campaign supporter.

Black Dogs on tour

Each dog sculpture is cast from the same mould. To personalise individual Black Dogs they have been given a name, unique coat and a collar of hope with information about SANE. Horace, our first dog, was born at the 3D Eye studios in West London. According to classical mythology, the poet Horace was the first to use the black dog metaphor to describe his darker moods - phrase later popularised by Sir Winston Churchill. The unveiling of Horace took place at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank. It was a celebratory evening with Ray Davies, Clive Anderson and friends. From there he moved onto Islington’s N1 Shopping Centre before heading west to the Oxford Street Plaza. After resting in Altab Ali Park in Whitechapel, Horace is visiting the Science Museum. He’ll then go to John Lewis, Stratford in time for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Mother and child admiring Horace at the N1 Shopping centre.

The artist Anthony Cleyndert, de-signed the first coat. On describing the inspiration for the design he said, “Black and white are the contours of the mind: colour is the beauty of the soul.”

Rory and Homer quickstep to Leeds Our second Black Dog, Homer, sponsored by Legal and General, came into the world a few weeks later. Before arriving at L&G headquarters, Homer headed to Leeds where he was unveiled by SANE patron, Rory Bremner taking time out from his Strictly Come Dancing rehearsals. At the champagne celebration, hosted by Harvey Nichols, Rory showed off his newly acquired dance moves. After a few days in residence at the Victoria Quarter shopping arcade, Homer took up a spot at the Love Arts Leeds Festival as a feature of their mental health awareness programme. Now, settled at L&G he will be the focus of their employee mental wellbeing scheme.

Marjorie Wallace, SANE’s Chief Executive and patron Rory Bremner in dance pose while admiring Homer.

The next Black Dog, Hugo, was a collaboration between SANE supporters and long-standing patron Joanna Lumley.

Individual campaign donations allowed us to put a third dog into production. Joanna Lumley, who stars as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous designed this wonderfully flamboyant, ‘AbFab’style coat of stars, hearts and kisses. Hugo is based at the City of London’s smart, new shopping destination, One New Change, a stone’s-throw from St Paul’s Cathedral. Joanna chose his name after her own pet Labrador.

Dog goes to University

The next dog, Kalman, was sponsored by the Franklin family. Mrs Charlotte Franklin is a former Oxford graduate who takes an interest in mental health especially the number of suicides amongst students. A keen ceramicist, her coat design is centred around an intricate mosaic and the dog has a Venetian inspired gilt collar. The message on the plinth will read ‘mens sana in corpore sano’ healthy mind in a healthy body. Kalman in the studio—receiving some finishing touches.

Clinical Dog We have a Black Dog sponsored by psychotherapist Anna Albright and a group of her clinical colleagues including Dr Mark Collins, Dr Elza Eapen, Miss Karen Levy, Dr Jeremy Pfeffer, Dr Gillian Waldron and The Fitton Trust. “It’s a great campaign. You’ve already got celebrity and corporate supporters, I just felt you really must have some clinical professionals on board”. Anna Albright Iconic pop musician and solo artist Adam Ant designed the coat for ‘Clinical Dog’.

Salty Dog The stunning nautical coat of Salty Dog was designed by Helen and Colin David for world renowned fashion label English Eccentrics and made by Barbour in waxed cotton with tartan lining. Gaining control over the Black Dog was a message literally woven into the coat by expert embroiders Hand and Lock. Salty’s coat encourages us to “Lead him for you are his Master”. Salty became a sea dog to conjure up the metaphor of the ocean and describe sending depression away on a voyage. His silver anchor reminds us of the importance of feeling secure and creating a safe harbour for those affected by mental illness.

Special thanks are due to Scott Gordon Heron at Hand and Lock, Lynn Vasey at Barbour and Sarah Holly Sayeed.

Black Dog goes to School

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Care Services Minister Paul Burstow visited the City of London Academy School on the day they announced the extra £22 million government investment for children’s mental health. SANE staff carried out workshops with the stu-dents. The Black Dog sculptures have proved popular with young people as is giving them a more accessible, ‘user-friendly’ way of talking about a sensitive subject.

Influencing the political agenda Charles Walker MP, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Mental Health, wrote a letter on our behalf to all 650 MPs, to draw their attention to the campaign and encourage support. We have suggested MPs raise the issue of depression and mental health through Parliamentary Questions and lobby for additional funding for mental health research and services. “SANE’s Black Dog campaign is a stroke of genius”.

Black Dog at the Science Museum ‘Lates’ A pack of Black Dogs welcomes over 3000 visitors to the Science Museum for one of their ‘Lates’ evenings. The event is dedicated to mental health.

Friends of the campaign “The more we are open about mental health issues, the better it is for those with mental illness and for society as a whole. So I am delighted to support this campaign.” Alastair Campbell

With thanks to our sponsors Anna Albright Ian Askew Charitable Trust Mr David Barrere Mrs Elizabeth Boyling The Arnold Burton 1998 Charitable Trust The Fitton Trust The Franklin Family Deloitte LLP Dr Mark Collins Dr Elza Eapen Dr Ros and Anthony Furlong Morny & Ian Hay Davison CBE InterSteels Ltd Legal & General Group PLC Miss Karen Levy Mrs Annie Macdonald The Norman Family Trust Dr Jeremy Pfeffer SANE supporters Dr Nina Storms and Black Dog Tribe Jane Asher, Stephen Fry, Ruby Wax, Alastair Campbell, Ray Davies CBE, Dr Mark Collins, Jenny Eclair, Professor Peter Fonagy, Judith Owen, Clive Anderson, Ian Hislop, KT Tunstall, Marie Helvin, Gerald Scarfe CBE, Harry Shearer, Sally Brampton, Hattie Hayridge, Dame Judi Dench CH DBE, Matthew Johnstone, Michael Palin CBE, Ian Shaw, Beverley Knight MBE, Barry Cryer, Carole Stone

Lady Juliet Tadgell Dr Gillian Waldron

How you can help

SANE continues to need your help to purchase more dogs so the campaign can have more impact and raise funds. •

Adopt a Black Dog by donating £25 and becoming a friend of the campaign. This enables SANE to provide an hour of emotional guidance and practical help to someone in crisis.

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Sponsor a Black Dog. The name of your business or group of businesses will feature on the plinth. It costs £5,000 to bring a Black Dog to your community. This covers the cost of production, designing the decorative coat and preparing the plinth.

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Club together with friends, colleagues, Facebook contacts or other networks and organise a Black Dog lunch or tea.

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Spread the word about the campaign via your social media networks, community blogs and newsletters

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You can donate £3 by texting SANE to 70300. £3 will support SANE’s Black Dog cam-paign by enabling us to respond to someone in distress with high-quality emotional support.

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For more information and to order Black Dog campaign banners, badges and wristbands visit www. sane.org.uk/what_we_do/black_dog/

SANE’s ‘Black Dogmobile’ gets on the road We would like to thank the wonderful folk at ecourier for their support in transporting our dogs to their various locations countrywide.