Thank you for taking the time to read my story. Please do give if you can.

I am so excited to be taking part in a Skydive for Mind. Working in mental health and having always supported my mother since I was young, as I witnessed mental health take hold of her life, means that I am incredibly passionate about raising awareness. My mum has been through the system for mental health since I was as young as I can remember. Her diagnoses of Bipolar and BPD mean she faces daily challenges and over the years we have supported her through many crisis points. As a young child, I understood mental health, I wanted to be a part of change, and I hope to pass this down to my son and all those young people I work with.

I have worked with young people experiencing mental health difficulties since 2016, through various different roles (whether it be a residential CSE home, a Cat A prison, a secondary school or the college) and I cannot imagine doing anything else. I loved it that much I completed a Masters degree in Psychology (and ruined rid of every last inch of my social life for 8 years!). My reasoning for wanting to take this challenge is my passion to support change, personal experiences and for my mum.

In 2019, I had an Ectopic Pregnancy which went undiscovered for over 3 months, something which when discovered very nearly had cost me my life, a few hours more and the outcome would have been very different. Later, I was diagnosed with Complex PTSD and began having support. I cannot believe looking back now, that this was my story, but the resilience that I have developed since is life changing, and it's all thanks to the support from Mind, Acute care, my family and friends. This Skydive I will be remembering the day of my surgery, the loss of my baby and my fallopian tube, but more importantly the journey which I have been on ever since.

It is important to remember that everyone's story is different, however through the use of services such as mind the outcome can be similar - that everyone has the opportunity and chance to fulfil happy, meaningful and resilient lives. That all have the strength and feel empowered to voice their story, raise awareness and more importantly abolish the stigma that has for so long surrounded those unfortunate enough to live with 'mental health' problems.

Please give what you can to supporting Mind (and me jumping out of a plane at 10,000ft!) and lets continue to make a difference.

Thank you,

Jess xx