The cause

Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) is leading a movement against suicide. Every week 125 people in the UK take their own lives. And 75% of all UK suicides are male. CALM exists to change this by offering life saving services, provoking conversation and bringing people together to reject living miserably.

From advice on our site, through to free, confidential chats with our helpline staff, online or on the phone, we’re here for whoever needs us, every day. No matter what.

Thanks to your help, we've now raised enough to equip and train three professional helpline workers - the kind who helped prevent 556 suicides in 2020 alone.

The swim

On September 8th and 9th, I'll be swimming the Isles of Scilly - a five island, 15km swimming challenge that only 150 people get to do each year and something that's right at the edge of what I believe I can do.

The Isles of Scilly is (are?) a place I've called home for several formative years, a place I got engaged, have visited countless times and have watched Becs row to glory at the World Champs on several occasions. It's a place that means a huge amount to me and I'm really excited to swim it.

But - sound the 'inevitable charity angle' klaxon - whilst I'm doing this swim for, if not entirely selfish reasons, not at all selfless ones, I don't see any harm in trying to raise some money for a cause that's also dear to my heart and serotonin, and give me an extra reason to do this. So, I'd love to raise enough to pay for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) to train and equip a helpline worker to help people in a mental health crisis. Thanks to your donations, we've now raised enough to train three, with additional donations going towards a fourth.

So, please do donate, should you feel kind and supportive, ideally at the same time.

The water on Scilly is often brutally cold. They get a lot of fairly dangerous jellyfish. Sometimes even the odd shark. The 100 or so shipwrecks around the islands are proof that the waters can get 'a bit choppy'. Even on a calm sea swim in training, I got attacked by a 5ft seal (!) In short, anything could happen. But one thing definitely will: This September, I'm going to swim the Isles of Scilly.