In February 2026, I'm joining a group of over 20 people with the aim to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest mountain, in support of Youth Talk! (All funds raised go direct to the charity).

I'm proud to have recently joined the Board of Trustees for this amazing charity, doing such essential and life-changing work. Youth Talk’s mission is to provide the best, possible mental health support to young people, at a time of critical need. Youth Talk is a pioneering Charity, unique in the UK, offering free, confidential face to face counselling for 13-25 year olds in the St Albans District. What makes it unique is that young people can access a whole year of support for free.

The average number of sessions per young person is 25. Youth Talk currently has just over 120 clients going for counselling every week, with another 80 on the waiting list, with numbers constantly growing. How can you help?

£10 pays for an hour of the Youth Talk team to be on the phone to take a call.

£25 helps pay for resources to share with local schools.

£50 pays for a full counselling session for a young person that is in need of it.

It's important for there to be a safe, trustworthy, calm and professional environment for young people to feel comfortable in and share whatever is on their mind, Youth Talk can offer this.

Thanks to your donations (no matter what size), and support of our challenge, this is really going to spur me on to reach the top of the mountain (I hope!) But most importantly, Youth Talk can continue to provide local young people with one-to-one counselling support during a real time of need, supporting young people to find courage, hope, happiness and purpose in life.