Earlier this year, our closest friends spent an evening at the pub - as we usually would. Everything seemed normal. The day after, however, we couldn't get hold of George. Later that evening some of our friends went to check on him at his flat, where he was found, having taken his own life, aged 25.

Alex Makowski, Ben Allchurch, Harry Adams, Max Burgin and Harry Little are running for Mind not only to remember George, but also with the hope that we can make a difference and prevent such a tragedy happening again.

As a group, we feel that we are relatively open and understanding, but it is clear that this is not enough. This shows the extent to which there is still a lack of knowledge about mental health issues as well as a lack of support for people suffering.

It pains us to think that George was suffering alone.  A lot more needs to be done to raise awareness, especially amongst young men. Running for Mind not only gives us the opportunity to raise money to contribute to all the amazing work Mind undertakes, but also give us a platform to raise awareness amongst our families, friends and colleagues that there is more all of us can be doing to look after ourselves and others, and that there is always support available if we need it.

With this in mind, we would ask anyone reading this to donate generously and share our page and its message as widely as you can! 

If you’re not able to donate, or if you have other preferred charities, then we would still love for you to take something away from reading this. Please reach out to someone about a problem you have. Please take the time to offer support to someone close to you who you think may be struggling and encourage them to speak to someone, or to Mind. In doing so, you are ensuring that one less person is battling a mental health problem alone.