Vhairi Winton
The Big East Coast Challenge
Fundraising for Change Mental Health
Story
What is the National Rural Mental Health Forum's mission?
The Forum is a strong network of rural people and stakeholders driving change to:
enable rural people to be open about their mental health
have a solid evidence base for what works to improve people's lives
create a programme to influence policy-makers to channel resources in ways that bring positive change through a network of rural organisations across Scotland
The outreach of rural organisations in the forum shall be vital in tackling mental health issues by campaigning to raise awareness, signpost individuals to create new support networks and to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health and wellbeing.
What will we be doing?
11 of us will be taking on a 100km walk on the 16th and 17th of May on Mental Health Awareness week for the National Rural Mental Health Forum, (a part of Support in Mind Scotland). We will be starting of in Kingsbarns and walking down to Wemyss for an overnight stay, the walk will be picked back up in the morning and we will be travelling down to the Forth Road Bridge and finally finishing up in Kirknewton.
Our Story
As many may know Vhairi lost a close family member to mental health and many are still suffering in silence, so that's why she came up with doing this enormous challenge and walking 100km over 2 days to raise awareness and support.
It goes without saying that everyone in some way or another has been affected by mental health. It’s for this reason that we feel it is so important to raise funds and awareness for mental health. The reason we are raising money for the National Rural Mental Health Forum is because it has been made clear that individuals living and working in remote rural areas are isolated and often do not have the same access to services. Another reason is that many of the people taking part in this walk are currently working or living in rural communities and this is a charity we are all passionate about.
No matter how big or small, it would be amazing if you could donate some money to this great charity. It is important that people in rural communities are given the chance to open up about their mental health and it is about time we address the unmet need for mental health support in rural Scotland.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read our story and thank you in advance for your donations, its greatly appreciated.
The Big 11
Vhairi Winton
David Blain
Megan Russell
Paul Martin
Tammie Nicolson
Stevie Galvin
Pauline Robinson
Kevin Bannon
Genevieve Livingston
Ralph Speed
Big Keith