The Self Care Exchange 2026

The Self Care Exchange is back at Leeds Kirkgate Market on Thursday 22 October, running from 11am to 3pm in the Food Hall. It's Forum Central's annual marketplace event, put on with the Leeds Sexual Health VCSE Network, and it's free and open to everyone.

The format is straightforward: local voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations set up alongside health professionals in a relaxed, informal setting. It's the kind of place where you can just wander in, ask questions, and get a proper sense of what support is actually available across the city without having to book appointments or navigate a phone tree. If you've been wondering where to turn for something specific, this is a good spot to find a few different leads in one go.

This year's theme is 'Let's Connect', and it's a broad one. It looks at strengthening meaningful human connections — with yourself, your partners, your friends and your wider community — and how that ties into health, wellbeing, communication and belonging. You'll find a wide variety of stallholders on the day, plenty of information to take away, and people on hand to talk things through.

There's also a free, confidential sexual health drop-in running throughout the session. It offers STI testing, including HIV and syphilis blood tests, pregnancy testing, and advice on PrEP, contraception and vaccinations, plus blood pressure checks. It's all handled discreetly, so you can get it sorted while you're there without making a production of it. The whole thing runs from 11am to 3pm at the Leeds Kirkgate Market Food Hall, 34 George St, LS2 7HY, and it's free for anyone to drop into.