World Mental Health Day: Mind & Home – The Feeback Loop We Can’t Ignore By Miles Blayden-Ryall

Having grown up in an unstable environment, the subjects of “mind” and “home” have

always been present in my life. My older sister and I were raised by a single parent living

with disability and serious mental health struggles. There was love, but also turbulence. For

me, this brought with it diagnoses and shifting labels. These included dyslexia in childhood,

anxiety in my teens, OCD in my twenties, GAD in my thirties, and now ADHD as I’m about to

turn forty.

Despite the various acronyms attached to my mental health over the years, I’ve been very

fortunate. With support, I’ve been able to build my own family, nurture long-lasting

friendships, and thrive in my career as a filmmaker. But I’m acutely aware that without the

help and compassion I was afforded, my story could have been very different.

It feels fitting, then, that my next documentary, Home, brings these threads together. A story

spanning eight years, it follows Alen, a Bosnian war refugee, father of four and qualified

health and safety expert who became homeless after his tower block was evacuated in the

wake of the Grenfell disaster. His personal fight for justice becomes a window into a much

bigger truth - that systemic rot discards the vulnerable while protecting the powerful.

Homelessness and mental ill-health are inseparable. An unwell mind can push people closer

to losing their home, while the lack of a place to live - with its relentless volatility, uncertainty

and danger – can compound trauma and despair. The statistics are stark: Shelter report that

in England alone, over 131,140 households, including 169,050 children are in temporary

accommodation. These numbers are the highest on record.

Another shocking fact is that from January to March this year 4,427 people were recorded to

be sleeping rough in London - an increase of 8% compared with the same period the year

before. This in the sixth richest city in the world!

And behind these stats are individuals - lives where untreated anxiety, depression, and

trauma are both cause and consequence of not having a safe place to call home. The truth

is homelessness is not just about bricks and mortar, it’s about a lack of belonging, visibility,

dignity and purpose - the very foundations of mental well-being.

And yet, those who experience homelessness remain largely unseen and unheard, existing

in the cracks of a system that looks the other way. But somehow these marginalised human

beings simultaneously live amongst us in plain sight, on the very streets we all walk on every

day.

As we mark World Mental Health Day, let’s ask: If we know that stability, security and

solidarity are the building blocks of wellbeing and a cohesive society, how can we justify a

world where so many are denied even the chance of a safe home?

To find out more about Home, and how you can support the project please visit

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/homedoc

Thank you!