My Story

About the run...

Sadly, like many other young people, I've had my fair share of experiences with mental illness, since the age of 9 years old.

School was an extremely challenging time for me, experiencing almost daily panic attacks and depression that made life very difficult for me through my teenage years, in education and beyond.

This led to me beginning to campaign for young people's mental health on the YoungMinds Activist programme in my Gap Year and this is something that I continue to do.

It opened my eyes to just how alarming the crisis is for young people, with 1 in 4 young people experiencing a probable mental health disorder in 2024. 1/4 young people need support today, and YoungMinds help to offer just that.

They've been hugely influential in the implementation of Early Support Hubs across the UK - these are places where young people can go to access immediate mental health support, massively important at a time where waiting lists are longer than ever. A full national rollout of these is expected in the near future.

On a more personal note, they've allowed me to use my story to campaign for young people's mental health in Parliament and help shape campaigns within the charity, so it means even more to me to be able to raise money for the organisation.

And being formerly obese, the achievement of running a half-marathon would give me immense pride in myself too. 

So why not cross the two, and use this running hype to raise some money for such an important cause so close to my heart !