Hello!  My name is Ben Condon and I’m taking up the tough challenge of trekking across the Julian Alps, in Slovenia from 24^th – 29^th June 2011 to raise vital funds for Oxfordshire Mind, your local Mental Health Charity.

I am so excited about this challenge and I have pledged to raise a minimum of £1,450 for Mind.  I know I will have to do lots of training to make sure I am fit for the event, but what a great motivator to get going!  I will also make a personal contribution to Mind of £200 to help cover my registration, flights, accommodation and food.  I will be away for 6 days which will include long days trekking in the .

I’m told the trek won’t be easy and I will certainly earn my sponsorship!  It sounds as if we will see some magnificent sights and have great fun along the way!  Not to mention raising funds for such a worth while cause which is close to my heart.  Here’s the itinerary…

Day 1 - Departure from and arrive at airport. Short transfer to where you will be met by your local guides who will tell you more about the adventure ahead.  Overnight in Hotel Triglav.  Day 2 Short transfer to the Ljubelj pass on the Austrian border where we will start the trek. Rather unusually the trek starts by a short walk through an underground tunnel, once dug to shorten the merchants route connecting Carniola with . We follow the trails of shepherds, passing wide meadows of alpine flowers. We continue through the quiet of , underneath the ancient ruins of until we reach Begunje, home of the famous Avseniki musicians. From here we make a short transfer back to the hotel in .  Approx  6-7hrs trekking (including 700m descent, 250m ascent). Day 3 - After a short transfer we reach Pokljuka high plateau from where we start our descend to . We hike across mountain pastures, past farmers lodges and have great views of the beautiful . We visit a farmers museum in Studor village which is set in an old, intact farmhouse and gives an excellent insight in to how the people of this area lived 150 years ago. Overnight in Bohinj.  Approx 6-7hrs trekking (including 200m ascent).  Day 4 - A day hike up to the Komna high plateau where we will see great vistas of the central section of the beautiful Julian Alps, and (the highest mountain in ). We will visit the 70 metre high Savica waterfall and there is an optional cable car ride to the top of Vogel mountain (1532m). Overnight in Bohinj.  Approx 6-7hrs trekking (including 870m ascent and 700m descent).  Tonight we will celebrate our achievements by experiencing true Slovenian hospitality starting with our traditional celebration. Day 5 - A whole day to explore the beautiful city of .  Whether castles and mansions, famous buildings and monuments, churches, rivers and bridges, garden parks and picturesque areas or the hustle and bustle of busy squares are your thing there is certainly something for everyone in city.  Visit www.visitljubljana.si/en/tours_and_excursions/sights/ for more info.  Day 6 - Depart from airport and return to the .

Oxfordshire Mind provides a variety of services for people with mental and emotional health problems such as anxiety, bereavement, depression, loneliness, post-natal depression, recovery from breakdowns, stress and schizophrenia.

I now know that Oxfordshire Mind aims to raise at least £30,000 each year to sustain and develop its services.  I’m hoping that with a little help from my family, friends and colleagues my fundraising target of £1,450 will be achievable!   So… PLEASE do help me to help those who are in need of Mind’s services.  Your support will be very much appreciated.  Many thanks! 

INFORMATION ABOUT OXFORDSHIRE MIND

Oxfordshire Mind currently provides:

■    A network of fifteen well used, effective day services which are based in Abingdon, Banbury, Bicester, Carterton, Chipping Norton, Didcot, Henley, Kidlington, , Thame, , Wantage and Witney.

■  Our central office offers a help and information service on all mental health issues and local resources. Tel:  01865 263730.  We stock a large array of booklets on medication, legal rights, mental health and illness.

Understanding leaflets available: Anxiety Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Autism in Children, Bereavement, Caring, Childhood Distress, Dementia, Depression, Dual Diagnosis, Eating Distress, Gender Dysphoria, Learning Disabilities, Manic Depression, Mental Illness, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Paranoia, Personality Disorder, Phobias, Post Natal Depression, Post-Traumatic Stress, Premenstrual Syndrome, Schizophrenia, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Self-Harm, Talking Treatments, The Psychological Effects of Street Drugs. 

We also stock a large array of ‘How To’ leaflets such as How to: Cope with Relationship Breakdowns, Cope as a Carer, Survive Student Life, Assert Yourself, Cope with Panic Attacks, Help someone who is Suicidal, Recognise the early signs of Mental Illness, Deal with Anger, Survive Family Life, Recover after a Breakdown, Cope with Sleep Problems, Deal with Bullying at Work etc.

■  A network of supported housing projects providing permanent accommodation for over sixty people with long-term mental health problems.

■  An information service on all mental health issues and local resources.

■  A monthly Relatives’ Support Group where relatives and carers can discuss freely and in confidence the problems that arise from mental illness in the family.

■  Outreach Workers for men and women from black and minority ethnic communities.

■  Two Benefits Advice Workers for people all over Oxfordshire with mental illness.

■  A Rural Transport Service to enable people living with physical and mental health problems to attend our day centres.

■    In May 2008 Oxfordshire Mind launched a new pilot project to Improve Access to Psychological Therapies.  We currently have 16 staff employed to work in GP Surgeries across Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire Mind also tries to be pro-active and provide other activities and groups for people who experiencing mental and emotional health problems.  For instance our Cognitive Therapy Group Work Programme, Service User Training, production of The Mind Guide to Mental Health Services in Oxfordshire, running Christmas Day at and developing services for Young Adults and Students.  We have also now developed several Evening and Weekend Services for working people and students to access.

As we are under-funded, we have to seek funding from other trusts and from fundraising to help cover the extra activities and groups we provide.  We have found that raising funds for these types of groups/activities is particularly difficult as is obtaining funds for mental health work in general.

In 2010/11 Oxfordshire Mind needs funds to develop various areas of its work.  Your donation / support will play an essential part in this as it will help us:

●  Develop our evening services for working people, parents and students - In order to support more people we need to develop and fund evening services.

●  Raise awareness about mental health issues. 

●  Produce publicity materials.  Many people are still not aware of the services we have to offer.

●  Develop our Groups Work Programme  - The groups offer opportunities to learn coping skills and help people take more control of their lives.  We are currently running groups on Coping with Anxiety, Challenging Depression, and Building Self-Esteem.

●  Train staff to run Cognitive Therapy Behavioural Workshops - We would like to expand our current therapeutic groups so they are accessible to more people; including working people and people who live in rural areas.  To train our staff in this field costs Oxfordshire Mind £650.00 per person (this is a special rate agreed  with the Trust).  There is a growing need for these courses and we would like to be able to train 3-4 staff on this course over the next year.

●  Access to a range of therapies and creative activities for people with mental health problems living on benefits - It is well known that a range of therapies and creative activities can help people with mental health problems improve the quality of their lives. Medication is one thing that can help, but access to Massage, Reflexology, Aromatherapy, Yoga, Head Massage, Chi Gong, Meditation, Dance, Music, Creative Arts etc. can greatly improve people’s mental well being.  Sadly a lot of these are activities are not accessible to people who cannot afford them and it is unfortunate that these are often the people who need them the most.  Oxfordshire Mind tries to run these types of activities through employing people with the necessary skills on a sessional basis. Each session usually costs between £20 - £50.   These activities are extremely popular and have attracted new people who need our support who may not otherwise use our services.  Previous groups have been run from the projects budgets (which are very limited) and it would be good to run a series of groups which could be advertised through the course of a year.  £2000 would allow us to run 50-60 varied sessions for people with mental health problems within our projects.

●  Volunteer training – Training volunteers is costly, but many volunteers go on to work in mental health which is good for those who live in our community.

●  Fund our rural transport service - We have a network of fifteen day centres throughout the county.  To run this service costs approximately £15,000 per annum (including fuel, servicing, repairs, insurance, volunteer expenses etc).  We will have to replace one of our mini buses in 2012 at a cost of approx £40,000 - We have raised £2,000 so far.

●  The Mind Guide to Mental Health Services in Oxfordshire - The Guide is often described as the mental health bible.  It takes many hours of preparation and approximately £10,000 to print.  It is distributed to all G.P.’s, mental health professionals and the general public. 

●  Christmas Activities in our projects cost approx £2,000 - £4,000 per annum.  Oxfordshire Mind recognises that Christmas can be a distressing time for some people, especially those who feel isolated and alone.  Many of our projects run special events in the run-up to Christmas, and hold special ‘Post-Christmas Chill-out Days’ on 27^th December. Activities include Festive Art Groups (making Christmas decorations and cards using recycled materials), Christmas lunches, Sweet-making, Christmas music and singing, Christmas bring and share buffets, coping with Christmas workshops, bowling trips , Christmas bazaar, raffle and tombolas, Theatre trips and a Christmas Quiz to name but a few!

●  Refurbishment of Mind projects – Some of our Community Resource Projects are in desperate need of re-decoration and refurbishment.   We need funds to refurbish and redecorate the centres, undertake structural work to support the development of community kitchens, renew key electrical appliances in the kitchens (e.g. cookers, dishwashers and fridge/freezers), develop and equip community ICT hubs providing internet access and access to learning opportunities, purchase comfortable chairs for group work and training activities, new tables and chairs for the proposed community cafés, information and display racks and develop some new signage for the centres.

I hope this gives you an insight as to what the funds you have raised will help us with.