Hey guys,

From the 1^st until the 17^th August I will be cycling across Britain from Lands’ End in Cornwall to John O’ Groats in North Scotland to raise money for “The Dan McAllister Foundation – Strategies to Reduce Male Suicide (SToRMS)”, a charity set up in memory of Dan McAllister (who went to a nearby school to me) who very sadly died by suicide aged 19 in May 2015.

Dan was not in my immediate friendship group but I had spoken to him a few times and like many others was very shocked and upset to hear we had lost him at such a young age. Unfortunately, this is far from an
isolated incident or problem and has affected many people across the UK in recent years.

As a training mental health nurse, I am in a position where people feel comfortable to talk to me about how suicide or mental health problems have affected themselves or people close to them. It is from this that
I am aware of how big a problem we are facing and how much needs to be done to help resolve this issue. It has also made me aware of how small an issue this is thought to be compared to how big it actually is, because of the stigma surrounding the topic making it difficult for people to speak about their experiences. 

Many more people experience suicidal thoughts, mental health
problems or have been bereaved by suicide than you would first think and we as a society need to do more to help rather than isolate people to prevent more premature deaths.

Please sponsor me to support “The Dan McAllister Foundation –
SToRMS” who are doing great work to help people experiencing mental health problems and preventing suicide.

Thanks for reading,

Owen