A group of students from Weymouth College took to the streets in a dramatic public stunt to raise awareness of mental health issues.

The teenagers are members of the National Citizen Service (NCS) and together marched round Weymouth town centre in efforts to encourage more people to talk about mental health.

Together the team created a huge banner reading: ‘Let’s talk about metal health. Ask who are you?... And really mean it’.

To emphasises their stunt, the students also wrote words to describe how mental health could make people feel and the reasons people may not want to talk about mental health problems.

These words were then taped over the mouths of the students, to physically show that these reasons were stopping people from coming forward to talk about mental health issues.

Rafferty Brodie, 16 and from Wyke Regis, was one of the members of the group.

He said: “A group of us had signed up to the National Citizen Service and in that we all do a lot of voluntary work and social projects. We all thought we wanted to do something bigger that would have an impact.

“People struggling to talk about mental health is something we wanted to change. We got in touch with Dorset Mind about our stunt who thought it was a great idea.

“We had an amazing response.

“So many people came up to us and thanked us, and I think we encouraged a lot of people to speak out.”

The NCS is a voluntary personal and social development programme for 15 to 17 year olds, funded largely by money from the UK Government.

This publicity stunt was part of the students two-week youth-led social action project,

This part is their 2 week youth led social action project, in which they chose to raise awareness of mental health issues, to encourage speaking out and reduce feelings of loneliness.

The students were also fundraising for Dorset Mind.

The students also wanted to thank Impact Signs for agreeing to make the sign free of charge.

NCS Team Leader, Hannah Vass “The group have been a pleasure to work with and embraced every challenge with a great attitude. They decided as a team to raise awareness of mental health issues, understanding that it affects so many lives, regardless of age or background. I have been very proud to work alongside them throughout the duration of their NCS journey and wish them all the best for their bright futures.”