We all have mental health, some of us have mental ill health. The coronavirus pandemic has caused an increase in the number of people experiencing mental ill health, as well as exacerbating symptoms for people with pre-existing conditions. This year I have set myself the challenge of walking 1000KM split across ten different 100KM walks, raising funds for ten charities that support those experiencing, or supporting someone with, mental ill health. I have set an ambitious target to raise £600 for each of the ten charities, with the aim of raising at least £6,000 in total.

Mental ill health is a subject very close to my heart as it’s something I have experienced for as long as I can remember. The stigma around mental ill health makes it extremely difficult to talk about; even writing this I’m struggling to find the right words. I, along side some of my closest friends, experience anxiety and depression. One in six of us will experience a common mental ill health problem like depression in any given week.

“Suffering in silence” is something you may hear when someone talks about mental ill health. I first started to experience anxiety and depression in childhood, where I actively attempted to and, in many cases, succeeded, in hiding all the signs of my mental ill health. I have struggled alone, tried to “blend in” and act normally in the hope of some sense of acceptance. I have experienced the highs and lows, ranging from feeling invincible and as if I do not have mental ill health, to making attempts on my life. I have also experienced the highs and lows that come with seeking help, be it different forms of therapy, medication, altering environments, or exploring approaches to self-care.

Mental ill health cannot be cured like physical health can. If you are physically unwell a surgeon maybe able fix, replace or remove something. When you are mentally unwell medical professionals cannot do this. The hardest thing is speaking up and being open to prospect of changing things with professional help. For any of you reading this that are “suffering in silence”, you can do this, you can break the mould and you can get help. There is plenty of it out there, be bold, go out there and seek the help you need – if you don’t feel able to raise your worries with your GP or NHS health professional all of the charities I have selected have great resources.

It saddens me to have to write this, however I very much feel the stigma that prevented me from opening up and talking as a child still exists to this day. I would like to remind anyone reading this to not start casting judgements on a story you know very little about. We all have a choice to empower ourselves, grow, learn (new things or from our own mistakes) and help others around us. Will today mark a new chapter for you where you help break the stigma? Not cast judgement? And help promote a society in which we can all talk about our own mental health or mental ill health openly.

The work of all of the charities that I am fundraising for resonates with me personally, and I hope that my choice of charities helps to raise awareness of mental ill health, break down the stigma that people feel, and encourage them to talk openly about their own experiences of mental ill health and not feel that they are struggling alone.

Please dig deep, donate, and more importantly, help breakdown the stigma. If you do have conversations around mental ill health, think about using SHUSH: Show you care, Have patience, Use open questions, Say it back & Have courage. Together we can build a society that openly talks about depression, anxiety, bipolar, OCD and other forms of mental ill health instead of maintaining the status quo in which we still shy away and don’t deal with mental ill health issues well.

Here is a little bit about Music for My Mind in their own words. Music for My Mind is an innovative start-up charity aiming to improve the well-being of people living with dementia (over 850,000 in the UK alone) and their families by creating, and making widely available, personalised music. We want to enable universal adoption of personalised music as an affordable therapy for people living with dementia (e.g. as an alternative to drug treatments, to reduce agitation or combat depression) and others affected by it (family, friends and carers). You can find out more about the work that Music for My Mind do here: https://musicformymind.com/about-mfmm/.

If I am close to hitting my fundraising target for this event, please consider sponsoring one of the other walks that I am doing as part of the challenge. You can view details of other walks here: bhaveetnagaria.github.io/donate

-Bhaveet