I'm running 10k at the World Aids Day Red Run for elop, an amazing LGBT+ mental health and wellbeing charity for which I'm honoured to serve as a charity trustee.

elop provides low cost 'pay what you can' therapy to LGBTQ+ people, meaning thousands can access safe, welcoming, affordable mental health care when they might otherwise not have been able to. We also provide free youth groups and other wellbeing services, and provide the only LGBT+ Affirmative Counselling Skills course in the UK to train the next generation of counsellors.

LGBTQ+ people are disproportionately affected by poor mental health. Discrimination, social isolation, fear, a history of persecution, and the trauma of not being able to live authentically has inflicted deep wounds on members of our community. So many friends of mine have been affected by anxiety or depression – and been supported by elop in their time of need.

As a small, specialist charity, run by and for the queer community, elop punches above its weight. But funding is tight and demand for elop's services is increasing due to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, the aftereffects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and an increasingly hostile environment for LGBTQ+ people in the UK.

Please donate what you can to sponsor me and support elop's vital, life-saving LGBTQ+ mental health services!