Last May I took part in Miles for Mind which involved running 50 miles (80km for the Europeans among us) over the month. In June I took part in the VHI Women's Mini Marathon in Dublin. This year, I am facing my biggest challenge yet namely the Paris Half Marathon. 21,0975 kilometers await me on the 10th of March. 

Why am I doing this? For the good of my health? Nope, it's to raise awareness about mental illness and hopefully start some conversations that will lessen the stigma around those with a mental illness. Mental illness is something we dont talk about enough and given that 75% of mental illnesses emerge before the age of 24 I want to change that so that nobody who has a mental illness needs to feel ashamed or like its is something they have to hide. 

1 in 4 of us in a given year will encounter a mental health problem. Yet, there are nowhere near resources put into mental health services and it's not something we tend to talk or know much about. We are a long way from achieving parity between mental and physical illness. 

"Depression is a negative attitude, you just need to be positive", "suicide is selfish how could you do that to your family/friends", "just snap out of it", "why are you like that", "just eat", "there's nothing wrong with you", "self-harm is attention seeking" are just some of the things that I have heard. If you wouldn't say it to someone with a broken leg don't say it to someone with a mental illness. 

In Ireland 62% of adults would not want others knowing if they themselves had a mental health problem and 54% would not want to live with someone with a mental health problem. That's why I'm supporting Mind. Mind works to support and inform people, start the conversation and break the stigma. Mind has pages on mental health conditions, a tool if you need urgent help, blogs, videos, an online community, a helpline, branches and much more. They are there for people with mental health problems and for the people who support them. 

If everyone could donate even just the cost of a take-away coffee/ a pint/ a takeaway imagine how much we could raise and the difference we could make (obviously I'd love it if you were feeling generous!). 

Please donate to this worthy cause and let's get talking about mental health x