This summer, a big group of OTR's supporters are taking part in a skydive! This is exciting but also TERRIFYING!

I will be joining the team in memory of my Father, Hubert Korsak, who died this January. I really wish there was something similar to OTR Bristol when he was young to support him through his difficult marriage. My mother was a narcissistic abuser but their generation did not speak about mental health. They had to "get on with things". 

Despite his times, my Dad was a good man. I was raised by a kind, carrying Father so I appreciate the importance of good emotional support in difficult times. I became a resilient and steady adult. 

In the last few years of my life in Oxfordshire however, I have experienced severe social isolation and (for the first time in my life) racism. Few years of that Brexit infused hostility resulted in newly acquired anxieties. 

It took me 12 months of living in Bristol to collect the courage to cross the Suspension Bridge. I still sweat when I climb the attic ladder! My relationship with fear is very new and very strong. So this challenge is going to be really difficult. Very emotional. Very difficult. But also very healing. 

I joined OTR Bristol exactly a year ago, shortly after my move to the warm and welcoming Bristol. I have started feeling better and trusting people again. Losing both of my parents in that period was extremely complex and difficult but I was held by a wonderful group of people who really were there for me. Who show up for young people every single day. 

So I have no doubt that my dad would have liked the idea of the SkyDive and if he was here, he would have donated the first sum. I miss him, but I know he would be proud of what we do at OTR Bristol. 

I am hopeful that my father's legacy will continue in my son and that my son's generation will talk about mental health openly. OTR Bristol is already making a difference in his school so I am pretty sure he will be open about it and supported. 

More about the SkyDive and OTR Bristol: 

The group travelling out to Salisbury to take part in the skydive are a mixture of OTR staff, volunteers, supporters and young people. It's a great mix of people who all have the common aim of raising money for OTR's work with young people's mental health across Bristol and South Glos. 

Off the Record Bristol (OTR) is a mental health social movement by and for young people. OTR provides mental health support and info to young people aged 11-25 across Bristol and South Gloucestershire. OTRs services are free, confidential, self-referral and provide a variety of support projects to combat mental and emotional health needs such as depression, anxiety, self-harm, OCD, abuse, eating disorders, family breakdown and substance abuse.

Please support this amazing fundraising effort! Please donate today! 

Thank you!