Huge thanks to Lisa Gorman at JMD Training for hosting a Food Hygiene Training for 22 of the Anaka and Kind Economy chefs! This important training will help our chefs continue to provide delicious food to the community of Belfast 💛

New Script are delighted to be welcoming Dr Pat Bracken back to Belfast on Monday 11th May as part of the Mental Health Arts NI Mindset Festival & Féile na gCloigíní Gorma. Keep an eye out on our social media for booking information next week, spaces will be limited! 👀

Great chats on the doors during our leaflet drop around the Mackie’s ‘W Site’, where we’ve been organising to build homes and community spaces. As a community led campaign, engagement is key. You can always contact us at [email protected] with any input and queries you have about the campaign!

The community garden at Mackie’s is in full swing! 🌱 Raised beds that were built at our recent workshop at Gairdín an Phobail are now planted with potatoes 🥔, radishes 🫜, lettuce 🥬, calendula 🌼, strawberries 🍓, and onions 🧅! All thanks to the detoxifying work of the local primary school kids!

On Friday, Kind Economy activists gathered at @unisonni.bsky.social for a “Creating a Different Story” workshop, part of the Collaboration for Change series. We were joined by the 16+ Education Campaign, DAR Men’s Group, @actnowcampaigns.bsky.social, and others working for positive change.

#NewScript were delighted to be at the launch of the 2026 Mental Health Arts Mindset Festival yesterday, taking place across NI from 8-15th May ❤️ Huge congratulations for your new look, and a fantastic programme of events!

There are nearly twice as many homeless households across the north as there were in 2016, but the government has started construction on 1,000 fewer homes… 🤔 The Department for Communities keep missing their own targets, while families live in temporary accommodation for months or even years 🏡

How much is NI spending on suicide prevention? We asked. DoH: ask the PHA. PHA: ask the DoH. The truth? No central budget. No oversight. People are dying preventable deaths while the system can’t even track its response.

Did you catch #TakeBacktheCity on the radio last weekend? 👂📻 PPR’s Assistant Director Marissa spoke to Radio Ulster about the development of the Take Back the City campaign, for an episode of Consumer Fight Back on housing. Listen to the full episode here 👉 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A High Court challenge brought by two doctors who were banned from working in the NHS while waiting for an asylum decision, has led to the UK Home Office lifting the ban on working for doctors and some other NHS jobs. But why did it take a high court challenge to fill these shortages in the NHS?

Trump has announced plans to bring back ‘insane asylums’ in the US. As psychologist Dr. Jessica Taylor explains, we’ve been here before and it did not end well 👉 bit.ly/4tybmfS We know only too well the harm caused by systems that prioritise control over care.

Take Back the City activists were getting their hands dirty again this week, establishing the St Clare’s Primary School tree nursery as part of our collective fight in replenishing our land 🌳 These trees will be looked after and cared for by the kids, before being planted on Divis Mountain!

Powerful event on Candour and Communities yesterday in St Comgall’s. Families at the coalface of accountability and justice campaigns shared valuable insights: Cover-ups aren’t rare. They are systemic.

We got together this afternoon with #TakeBacktheCity activists, some old and some new, to talk about the campaign… It was great to hear from people about what the campaign has meant for them, and how we can keep pushing for change in the future 💛🏡 Keep up to date at takebackthecity.ie

On Monday, #TakeBacktheCity held a great workshop with some of the young people from @springboardopps.bsky.social, chatting to them about the campaign, and their own knowledge and experience of housing issues in their areas 🏡 Lots of future leaders and campaigners in the room! ✊

Maith sibh everyone who joined our woodworking workshop with Gairdín an Phobail on Friday! A great morning learning the basics of measuring, cutting, and assembling wood, and even making some new planters to go up on the new community garden at Mackie’s! ✊ #TakeBacktheCity

Reminders from nature - 1. Everything’s changes, even the longest winters can’t last forever. 2. All we need is under our feet 3. It’s all about connection. It’s a tonic to be working with women’s groups in Newhill Community Centre as they dream their new outdoor spaces into being 🌱

Eid Mubarak to all our followers who are celebrating today! 🌙 Whether spending time with friends and family in Belfast, or in contact with loved ones back home, we hope everyone has a safe and peaceful Eid 💛

No data. No accountability. No reform. A recent blog from the New Script for Mental Health campaign breaks down the stark truth about mental health data in NI. Read it here 👉 www.nlb.ie/blog/277/no-...

At Iftar, people who are fasting come together with family and friends to celebrate and break their fast together. For refugees, asylum seekers, and other newcomers to Belfast this can be a difficult time to be far away from family and friends back home.

Big shout out to @antidepressantrisk.bsky.social for the incredible work they’re doing to help people better understand the risks of taking antidepressants 💙 We were so inspired after meeting their founder, Katinka Blackford, last week.

Last night we held our annual community Iftar meal, a collaboration between the Kind Economy, Anaka Women’s Collective, DAR, and CATU Belfast 🌙 It’s a space for our communities, many of whom are very far away from home, to mark the month of Ramadan together with friends and family in Belfast 💛

The Department of Health — the lead department responsible for Protect Life 2 Suicide Prevention Strategy — cannot or will not tell the public how much is being spent on suicide prevention. Instead, the Department of Health and the Public Health Agency have passed responsibility back and forth.

The Department for Communities have finished their consultation on the Decent Homes Standard, but will this mean any real change for people living in social homes? 🏡 Read PPR’s response here 👉 www.nlb.ie/blog/279/ppr...

A year ago, all the main political parties endorsed our Give 5: Steps to Wellbeing Rights Framework — a positive step to tackling the mental health crisis.

Persistent ambiguity around how expressions of racism in graffiti and signage are responded to has led to an unwillingness to categorise materials as racist hate crime, a lack of clarity on responsibility, and an effective veto for paramilitary organisations for removal of hate graffiti or signage.

Six years into the Department for Health’s Protect Life 2 Strategy, the rates of suicide in NI show no sign of decreasing. Read the New Script campaign’s response to the All-Party Group on Suicide Prevention’s inquiry into funding 👉 www.nlb.ie/investigatio...

This year’s World Book Day theme invites us to Go All In — and there is no better time to go all in on stories that heal, empower, and transform. The Rest of the Story: Transforming Trauma to Voice, Agency, and Leadership (2025) is more than an anthology. It is a social movement in book form.

👏 Huge thanks to everyone who responded to our digital action on the Department of Health’s Consultation on a Statutory Duty of Candour! Because of you, the call for both individual and organisational statutory duties of candour could not be ignored.

“Strategy without measurable public reporting is simply rhetoric, and a fundamental failure in accountability.” Thanks to the Impartial Reporter for covering this important story on failures to publish mental health data. Read the full article here 👉 www.impartialreporter.com/news/2588094...

When we look after each other and the ground under our feet, amazing things happen. 🌱 We’re delighted to be working with Newhill Youth & Community Centre and the web of community growers and rewilders in Upper Springfield - so many ways our outdoor spaces support our communities to heal. ❤️

“Let the song of love run through your soul, let it make each cell anew.” At the launch of the Rest of the Story anthology in @themacbelfast.bsky.social in October last year, New Script activist Sean Fitz read his poem ‘Take a Chance’, which opens this powerful collection of writing and art.

“Without data, MLAs cannot scrutinise performance. Public spending cannot be assessed for value. Inequalities cannot be identified or addressed and strategy cannot be measured or improved.” Thanks to Derry Now for covering our call for transparency in mental health data ahead of Monday’s debate.

“This is a housing crisis. In times of crisis, you need to act fast.” Thanks to @irishnews.com for covering the hard work of the Take Back the City activists making the Mackie’s site a sustainable place for communities to thrive. Read the full article here 👉 www.irishnews.com/news/norther...

Last Friday, we held our first DAR drop-in session in collaboration with the Kind Economy and CATU Belfast. DAR is a men’s support and community group created by Kind Economy and CATU to support migrant and refugee men in Belfast, particularly around housing, isolation, and access to services.

This afternoon, the Assembly will debate mental health data, activists from New Script welcome this debate and will be watching closely. To find out more about the issues around secrecy in mental health data, you can read our previous blog on the subject here 👉 www.nlb.ie/blog/40/2023...

‘Our minds are not brittle! or rigid, but dynamic and responsive… To reverse the mental-illness epidemic we need less rigid classification, and more curiosity and kindness, humility and hope.” - Dr. Gavin Francis www.theguardian.com/news/2026/fe...

“What the neighbourhoods around the Girdwood site really needed, then and now, was social housing.” Read Elizabeth DeYoung’s response to the news of a £22 million investment in the Girdwood Community Hub can be found in @andytownnews.bsky.social here 👉 belfastmedia.com/mala-poist-g...

“Unless the Hillsborough Law, or any other law or policy change is fit for purpose, in the eyes of families, in their experience, they won’t accept it.” - Prof. Phil Scraton speaking powerfully at the Belfast launch of the ‘Candour & Communities’ exhibition.

After the landowners have let it sit vacant for >20 years, the local community are taking steps to build a thriving space there 🌱 The community have been looking after the land on Mackie’s, improving biodiversity, and now building a space that people can enjoy until homes can be built around it 🏠

Heartbroken, sad, angry, inspired, rooted, connected & determined 🩵 Some of the emotions this brave group of activists are feeling as we embark on a vital new play about mental health services with Louise Mathews & Paula McFetridge at Kabosh! Thanks @themacbelfast.bsky.social for hosting us!

Private rents in Belfast have risen by more than 50% over the last five years. This current situation is unsustainable. Families are being forced into paying extortionate rent because of a lack of social and affordable housing, then being pushed into homelessness by unaffordable rent increases.

“The extent of conflicts of interest among these panel and task force members reveals how important it is to examine the systemic and institutional practices that allow for these conflicts.” DSM-5 psychiatrists received $14m in funding from pharmaceutical industry. www.bmj.com/content/384/...

New Script activists are looking forward to attending this event this afternoon! Looking forward to learning from the fights of @hillsboroughlawnow.bsky.social, @chinookjustice.bsky.social and others to secure truth and accountability.

“In the absence of democratic participation, we are left with continuous stories of cases, knee-jerk reactions, passing blame around, and soundbites from decision-makers.” @unisonni.bsky.social Read all about the launch of VIEW in today’s @irishnews.com 👉 www.irishnews.com/entertainmen...

Last week, activists from the #TakeBacktheCity campaign came together to plan for the year ahead! Lots of ideas for the Mackie’s plans, pressuring those in power to use public land for public housing, and building diverse and resilient communities 🌱 Find out more at takebackthecity.ie 🔗

Interested in #public #health? Trade union leaders and civic society campaigners as well as journalists took part in a discussion in #Belfast. viewdigital.org/latest-issue... @kellieturtle.bsky.social @ppr-org.bsky.social @brianone.bsky.social

Campaigning for Participation and Transformation. New Script activists are looking forward to speaking at this VEEP online event, organised by Community Development and Health Network and Community Development Ireland! 📅 Tuesday 3rd February ⏰ 12-2pm 📍 Zoom

Our #KindEconomy chefs are busy from week to week, catering events held by friends and allies across the city. They are an opportunity to share the talents of the chefs, but also to share some of their journeys here. Find out more about joining the Kind Economy 👉 www.nlb.ie/take-action/...

New Script were thrilled to be in attendance at the launch of the new issue of @viewdigital.bsky.social this morning, on defending our public health system. 🩺 Important conversations looking at our joint fight against privatisation, and growing inequalities in health for the most vulnerable.