Henry Delamain
Henry's London Marathon
Fundraising for Mental Health Foundation
Story
Earlier this year, a friend who I went to school with committed suicide. The most awful part about it for me, was that fact he hid how he was feeling from those around him. It was going to the funeral that made it clear to me that mental health is something that needs to be spoken about and given more attention, so that tragic stories like his don’t continue to happen. I saw first-hand the devastation and pain it caused his family, let alone the suffering he had to go through, alone.
One in five young people experience a mental health problem in any given year and one in four students suffer from mental health problems. It should be obvious by now that only by talking about depression and normalising it as an illness can we hope to reduce these figures. The sheer weight of existing in today’s world isn’t going to relent anytime soon so it’s time we start doing what we can for those who feel they have to do it alone. It’s about supporting the vulnerable, letting them know they have someone to speak to and at no point are they by themselves.
‘The social challenge of our time is to reverse the growing level of mental ill health’. The slogan of The Mental Health Foundation should ring true for all of us. They work with parents, schools and those in the workplace to deliver programmes that target poor mental health and ensure healthier happier minds. This means targeting problems at the source, focusing on prevention before mental health issues develop. Their work is very much about the bigger picture, working through research and delivering solutions based on evidence. Please help them, with me, in this ongoing challenge against our generations biggest issue; it really is in all of our interests.
I could give you 26.219 reasons to donate to this fantastic
charity, if the sight of me sweating and gasping for air on the 28th
of April isn’t enough. Marathons aren’t easy, but it doesn’t come even close to living with a mental illness. Please support me supporting the Mental Health Foundation: let’s do it for mental health.
