Early Careers Charity Skywalk · 29 June 2023

We’re leading the fight for a future where all young minds are supported and empowered, whatever the challenges. We’re here to make sure children and young people get the best possible mental health support and have the resilience to overcome life’s difficulties. Join our fight.

Story


On 29th June I’ll be taking on The Dare Skywalk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for YoungMinds - here’s why:

In 2022, I was diagnosed with "generalised anxiety disorder" (GAD), depression, and, later that year, ADHD. Despite my confidence coming on leaps and bounds during sixth form, I'd fallen back to square one. Adapting to university life, hiding away during a third lockdown, uncontrollably overworking myself, and relationship issues had all contributed to turning me into a shell of my former self. Yet, this wasn't the lowest point of my fight against my mental health.

At age 15 I was, by most accounts, a grade-A student, at a good secondary school, who was expected to achieve great things at university and beyond... until I couldn't keep up anymore. No matter how hard I tried to focus on studying, I felt I wasn't picking anything up. Chastising myself for being lazy didn't help my work, and so, the night before GCSE results in August, I set myself an ultimatum: Achieve the required grades to return to my high school sixth form, or take a wildly disproportionate action to avoid the embarrassment of letting myself, my teachers and my family.

In the end, I barely made it into college, but that's beside the point. My mental health issues resulted from my own cruel perception that what I was going through was normal. My inability to work effectively was caused by my unmanaged, undiagnosed ADHD; at 16 years of age, I was too young to appreciate something wasn't right. This manifested itself in the form of GAD and depression.

Fortunately, through the support of my friends, I've recovered to the point where I no longer need medication to treat my anxiety and depression, but that isn't the case for everyone. YoungMinds say, "Young people's mental health needs are not supported early enough, and often only when they have reached crisis point." This is a statement that I back wholeheartedly based on my own experience - I wish my younger relatives, and younger siblings of my friends didn't have to deal with this either.

According to 2021 data, you should expect around 5 young people in a classroom of 30 to be suffering from a mental health issue. Of those 5, you should only expect 2 to be receiving NHS support. That's not to say the three students not getting that support will be struggling as much as I was, but unmanaged mental health conditions are prone to getting worse.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Early Careers have planned for a selection of people at the company to do The Dare Skywalk to raise money for YoungMinds. You can read more about it on our team page linked further up, but I don't want that experience to distract from the cause, which is why I'll be matching donations up to my £150 target.

Thank you for reading my story. Please spread the word about our cause, and, if you are able, please donate to help YoungMinds' work.

Donation summary

Total
£345.00
+ £86.25 Gift Aid
Online
£345.00
Offline
£0.00

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