Yesterday was exhausting - an incredibly busy day of back-to-back meetings.

First up was a meeting with the Director of Mind in Brighton & Hove, Sarah Danily. 

Was joined by Ben Duncan - my fellow Green parliamentary candidate for next-door Brighton Kemptown constituency.

I was particularly interested in Mind's pioneering work on tackling the stigma which is still associated with mental health problems.

The city's voluntary sector is likely to face a big squeeze in its public funding streams over the next few years (for example, NHS and City Council funding) on the back of the bank bail-out crisis and the knock-on cuts in government spending.

Locally, Mind provides some nationally acclaimed services such as MindOut for the city's LGBT community so am sure they'll find ways to continue to thrive even in this tougher climate.

That was followed by a meeting with Rachel Travers from Amaze.

Was very inspired hearing about the work they do with the families of children with special needs - truly amazing! - but worried to hear that the future funding of some excellent projects under the Aiming High programme could be in doubt post 2011.

After that, a quick dash down North St to meet with Tony Mernagh from the Brighton and Hove Economic Partnership, a business forum for the city.

Gathered some fascinating information - like, for example, the fact that over 30,000 people leave the city every day to work in London, while another 28,000 come into the city from the East and West - no wonder the roads and trains are so full...

Next up, a visit to the Brighton Unemployed Workers' Centre in Hollingdean, which seems to be fulfilling a vital need for many in the city, and then some fiilming for Meridian in North Laine.

Then a train journey to Eastbourne to catch up with Des Prichard from the Fire Authority, where I learnt about the issues they face both regionally and locally, including his take on moving the location of the fire station at Preston Circus.

A particularly moving part of the day was spent on the seafront in the early evening, meeting with a number of people who make use of the evening soup run, and hearing directly from them some of the difficulties they face in accessing housing and other local services.

I'll write more about this another time - but felt really privileged to meet some extraordinary people. 

You can read more about my visit and the St Mary Magdalen Soup-run at this blog site.

Finally, an hour or so at the monthly Amnesty meeting at Community Base, hearing a speaker outline a new campaign, Demand Dignity, which will include a focus on the environmental abuses committed by corporations in Nigeria.

Looking back over yesterday, the issue of dignity is actually one that was a theme throughout the day - from the importance of upholding the dignity of people learning to live with mental illness, to the dignity of those I met on the seafront, in spite of the huge challenges they face.