"We are doing this because it matters. It matters for me and it matters for the world." These are the words of Leslie Edwards, MC and toaster of Channel One, a reggae band that came together through Sound Minds, a music and visual arts studio in Battersea, London.

The band is the winner of the Community Care Awards 2004 mental health category, and their award recognises the valuable contribution the band made to an anti-stigma day at Charles Edward Brookes School in Camberwell.

Sound Minds was co-founded by Paul Brewer, project co-ordinator, and Devon Marston, project worker and is funded by Wandsworth Primary Care Trust, Sutton and Merton PCT and the Big Lottery Fund. People are referred to the project by community mental health teams in Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth. Brewer says: "At the point of referral we try to establish what their interests are, whether it's music, visual art, video etc."

Channel One members came together through their interest in reggae music.

Six of the seven band members are black and have long-term mental health problems. Between them they have experienced more than 25 hospital admissions. They are passionate about challenging the stigma of mental health and preventing others from suffering the devastating consequences of it - something they have all experienced first hand. This stigma, they say, is an enormous barrier to recovery. Passionate about campaigning, they decided that the best way to challenge stigma was to get in early and open minds.

The anti-stigma day at the school brought band members into contact with 150 year 10 girls. They ran three workshops during the day covering mental health and the media, DJ skills, and singing and song writing. The idea was that the young people would learn valuable skills from people with severe mental health problems and this would directly challenge the negative stereotypes in the media which portray people with mental illness as incapable and dangerous.

Band members have become very skilled in running workshops so Brewer felt "confident that band members would cope really well", although he admits there was "apprehension on all sides". He says: "When we arrived at the school we were all nervous but as soon as we got there we knew it was going to work. The students were really welcoming and genuinely wanted to learn."

In one of the workshops Channel One singer Coral Hines taught the girls interviewing skills and then invited them to interview her about her mental health. She is modest about the enormous courage it takes to expose herself in this way but is willing to do it because she wants to prevent others from sharing her first experience of mental health. She says: "The first thing I learned about mental illness was when I was in hospital. At least those girls in the school have heard something - a day like that would have helped me. We're really teaching young people about mental health and giving them something to take away. Mental health is hidden away from a lot of people in schools."

Year 10 clearly drew much from the experience. "The teachers said the kids were buzzing for weeks," says Brewer.

So far Channel One has visited two schools but now that they have the £5,000 prize money they will be "actively seeking out schools", he says.

Currently the project has to close its doors when Channel One makes a visit but the aim is to expand the work with schools without taking anything away from the existing service.

As for the award, Brewer says: "It's the climax to a lot of hard work by everyone in the project - the band and everyone working behind the scenes."