Matthew's Great North Swim 2018 page

Hi all,
As you can tell I'm once again raising money for a charity that is close to my heart. Over the last 6 months I have been struggling with various different aspects of my life, I made the conscious decision to seek help from Mind. Possibly one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Dealing with some anxiety issues which can affect up to 5% of the population, Mind managed to help me deal with my thoughts and emotions through talking therapies. For quite some time I had the constant thoughts that I'm just waiting for the world to trip me up and fail. I have managed to be able to feel my usual self again, rather than constantly over processing situations / emotions / thoughts.
I couldn't recommend seeking support for your thoughts and emotions highly enough. Being able to speak about how I feel is one of the best motivators I have for overcoming anxiety.
Making the first step of contacting Mind was probably the most difficult. Meeting the counsellor, I was very sceptical about the outcomes of just 'talking'. How wrong I was! I left feeling emotionally drained, but instantly happy, I actually began to look forward to future sessions with the counsellor and looking forward to a future of being back to myself and having coping mechanisms to combat negative thoughts.

As I sit and write this, I can imagine some people have probably felt similar thoughts and emotions as I have.
As I've been told in my sessions - "It's okay to feel like that" and this is what I have tried to tell people when they've said they don't feel so good.

Even if one person out of my friends decided to make the huge move to connect with the services they offer, I would feel like I have achieved more than my monetary target.
I firmly believe that male mental health is a massive issue at the minute, I am a strong believer that a problem shared is a problem halved!
The male population are slowly becoming more accepting of amazing services provided by charities that allow them to access the support they need, we all need to work together to change people’s perspective around mental health! One thing that always stuck with me is that; “It’s ok not to be ok”

The Great North Swim is an amazing event with around 10,000 people taking part and can swim anywhere from 250m up to 10k..! I’ve always been incredibly passionate about swimming from a very early age and now trying my hand at open water swimming which is a whole new learning experience!