This year i am running the Brighton Marathon again, i have paid my own entry but want to ensure that the time being put in benefits one of our local charities in Sussex. So i have decided to support Chalkhill Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit in Haywards Heath by funding The Rockinghorse Activities Programme.

Run by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Chalkhill Child and Adolescent Mental Health Unit is Sussex's only mental health inpatient unit for young people, supporting over 8,750 children and adolescents each year. 1 in 10 young people in the UK aged 5-16 suffer from a diagnosable mental health disorder - that's around three children in every school class. These include eating disorders, emotional based needs, depression and early-onset psychosis.

Research has shown that leisure activities are vital for the recovery of young people with mental health needs, helping them to enhance their psychological, emotional, social and physical well-being. The Rockinghorse Activities Programme enables patients at Chalkhill to do things that many of us take for granted - being an active participant, socialising with other people, building confidence, supporting others, listening, making a choice. The programme has enabled us to offer the children and young people stimulating and fun activities that increase confidence, independence, self-esteem and social development, in addition to supporting their mental health recovery.

A young patient at Chalkhill has kindly shared with us how The Rockinghorse Activities Programme has benefitted her at the unit.

"Without the funding Chalkhill receives from Rockinghorse, there would be no activities, no games, no groups. These things are vital to a young person and everybody who I have come into contact with while at the unit has been impacted in a really positive way by the amazing activities we can do. I have had the privilege to have done some amazing things at Chalkhill, like going to Plumpton on Wednesdays, going to the Sea Life centre in Brighton, looking after baby chicks - the list is endless. And it's not just the big activities, it's the day to day running of the ward. The games, the distractions, the art supplies. All of these things would never be able to be funded by the NHS and we have been so lucky to have had this extra support. I cannot explain how thankful I am for the activities programme. It's made such a big difference to me and I will never forget the impact it's had. I hope other children and young people will be able to be as lucky as me and to experience what I have."

I hope you will help me in supporting this fantastic local cause and give the children involved at Chalkhill the benefit and support they so deservedly need and require. We can make a difference.