Follow Friday is a new regular segment we will be featuring every other Friday on our social platforms. We will be showing our love for people and businesses we admire in the world of well-being, explaining why we love them and why you all should be showing them love too. You guys are getting this a day early because we just couldn’t wait to talk about this national treasure, the wonderful Fearne Cotton.
This woman has been doing incredible things for the whole mental well-being movement over the past few years. Since the release of her book 'Happy' in 2017, she has been at the forefront of everything mental health-related in the UK. Fearne is now using her platform to organize yearly events which go by the name of 'Happy Place Festival', these give people an opportunity to try Yoga and Meditation, be inspired by others and generally feel supported by those around them. There are very few people doing more to improve the UK's mental health than @fearnecotton, so from all of us, thank you.
Former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson is to chair ITV's new Mental Health Advisory Group. The group, created following the deaths of participants on The Jeremy Kyle Show and Love Island, will give practical advice to ITV and STV shows. Ms Davidson - who is still an MSP - has taken up the unpaid role designed to protect the mental wellbeing of audiences and participants.
She said: "For far too long, Scotland has failed to talk enough about the importance of mental health, putting it at the top of the national agenda is something we can all get behind, no matter our political allegiance,” Ms Davidson continued "It is a subject with a particular personal resonance and I hope to champion that cause over the coming months and years."
Ms Davidson, who quit as Scottish Tory leader in August, has previously spoken about being diagnosed with clinical depression as a teenager. The advisory group, the start of a five-year partnership with mental health charity Mind, is due to meet four times a year. ITV chief Carolyn McCall said: "Ruth's background in media and politics and her courage to talk publicly about mental health in her own life make her absolutely the right person to chair ITV's mental health advisory group.
This week's Mindful Moment takes us to the middle east where Iranian women have been allowed to enter a football stadium for the first time in decades after Fifa threatened to suspend the Islamic republic over its controversial male-only policy. Iran has barred female spectators from football and other stadiums for around 40 years. Women were quick to get their hands on tickets to attend Iran’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Cambodia at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium. The first batch sold out in under an hour, and additional seats were also snapped up in short order, state media said. A sports ministry official said the 100,000-capacity stadium – whose name means “Freedom” in Farsi – was ready to host even more women.
This is a huge step for women's rights in Iran, we hope this sparks some momentum for the cause and kicks of the journey to equal right for women in Iran.
