High-Five To Mental Health

10 October 2011, 16:33 | Updated: 10 October 2011, 17:32

The Make a Difference community group have been trying to break the world record for the most simultaneous high-fives. At one 'o' clock this afternoon around two thousand people across Bedfordshire reached up and slapped hands.

MAD came up with the high-five world record attempt as a way to drawing attention to World Mental Health day. Gail Dearing, the Associate Director for the South Essex Partnership Trust and coordinator for MAD, says: "one in four people are affected by mental heath problems but everybody has a mental health so instead of just thinking about mental illness we need to start thinking about mental wellness".

The current world record is 1790 high-fives. To beat this Make a Difference (MAD) drew people into St Georges Square in Luton and Harpur Square in Bedford.

Children at eight local schools also took part. Lea Manor and Putteridge High School in Luton are two of these. Getting the schools involved will help boast the figures needed to break the world record but Gail Dearing says the most important thing is making them aware of mental health. She says we don’t get children to think about their emotional wellbeing early enough.

The total numbers of High-fives are still being added up to see if the world record has been broken.