Hello. My name is Sam. I am a 27 year old man and I am joining the Movember campaign and raising money for the CALM mental health charity this month because I want to help raise awareness for what is often an under discussed and under appreciated issue - Men's Mental Health. I have personally struggled with mental health challenges for nearly all of the past 10 years of my life. These challenges have taken many different shapes and forms. At times they have been less serious and fairly manageable, and at times they have been much more serious and debilitating, such as periods of intense anxiety and chronic depression. I'm grateful to be in a more stable and content place both mentally and physically at the moment, and to not be struggling with the daily difficulties and battle of poor mental health alone. 

I have been very lucky to have received a huge amount of support, both professional and non-professional, in my journey back to mental wellness, and I'm confident that this would have been a much more difficult road if I had tried to walk it alone. I am now comfortable with my past and present mental health challenges, because I know that they were not my personal fault and I know that they have played a part in shaping who I am. I've learned to be more comfortable and accepting about these dark and difficult times of my life through talking openly and honestly about my struggles with therapists, family, friends, colleagues and more recently, other men who have experienced the same challenges. I would now like to continue this journey by reaching out to anyone who might currently be struggling with mental health difficulties in their life, and who would like some compassionate and confidential connection. 

I am sharing my voice with the hope of connecting to other men who are struggling, men who have overcome their challenges and with anyone who would like to discuss this 'awkward' and complicated topic further. I want to be part of the action taken to help raise awareness for the hidden and often destructive nature of mental health challenges in men, by creating open discussion about this topic and by removing the stigma that is often held around poor mental health, so that people can start to reach out and support one another through the most difficult times in their lives, before it's too late. 

I hope you will consider donating to help support CALM, a mental health charity with the powerful purpose of mental health support and suicide prevention and reduction. You can read a little more about the support they offer below, or you can find out more about their movement and their most recent campaigns on their website. 

The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.Anyone can hit crisis point. CALM run a free and confidential helpline and webchat 7 hours a day, 7 days a week for anyone who needs to talk about lifes problems.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to sharing this open, accepting and supportive mental health space with you all.