Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

About a quarter of the population will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, with mixed anxiety and depression the most common mental disorder in Britain.

Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem than men and about ten percent of children have a mental health problem at any one time.

Suicide rates show that British men are three times as likely to die by suicide than British women and self-harm statistics for the UK show one of the highest rates in Europe: 400 per 100,000 population.

…Just a few of the little known facts about depression. Some of the closest people to me have suffered, or are currently suffering from depression (hard not to make a joke about the quality of my company), from what they tell me it’s like an invisible weight you carry every day that no-one can see.

To this end I am going to be wearing a 30kg weighted vest for one week (Jun 26 - Jul 3). I will take it off only to sleep and shower. I’ll be keeping my daily routine - including going for runs, and some gym classes I can barely manage without a vest! (Big thanks to Primal Gym, Leeds for lending me the vest!)

This provides all of you giving away your hard earned cash extra entertainment, there won’t be one gruelling event, like a 10K run, but a whole week of my suffering that you can enjoy through a whole load of pictures and a daily blog! (Clamour.co.uk)

The charity receiving your generous donations will be the Depression Alliance. They build support networks of friends to help people get through depression, as well as fund initiatives aiming to increase the employability of people suffering with depression. “We work to relieve and prevent this treatable condition by providing information, support and understanding to those who are affected by it”.