A stitch in time can help to relieve an awful lot of mental anguish and trauma. That's the idea behind an extraordinary event at City Screen next month.

Holgate-based textile artist Natalie Needham, who works in the Opera North costume department, was supporting a close family member who has an alcohol addiction.

In May last year, feeling stressed and frustrated, she began hand-stitching her thoughts on scraps of fabric because she found it therapeutic.

It helped. And then she realised that, across the country, there must be countless other people like her in a similar position who might also benefit from 'stitching away' their feelings.

She launched the ‘Stitch Away the Stigma’ campaign; posting fabric packs nationwide to others affected by the addiction of a loved one.

The campaign took off on social media. More than 50 people from as far afield as Cornwall and Glasgow stitched their thoughts into scraps of her hand-dyed fabric.

And Natalie has now transformed those fabric pieces into a wall hanging, celebrating and recognising people’s stories from across the UK and raising awareness about the broader effects of addiction.

The hanging will go on display at City Screen in York on November 28.

"Stitch Away the Stigma has given me, and other people in the same position, a new opportunity to say things I may have never been able to articulate and discover a vast community of people in the same position as me,” Natalie said.

“My hope is that participants will see all of their fabric messages together and realise they are not alone.”

The City Screen event, from 1-3pm on November 28, will raise funds and awareness for the York Carers Centre and their substance misuse support group.