With the launch of MQ’s uphill Struggle Challenge coinciding
with World Mental Health Day earlier this month, this seemed a timely
opportunity for me to take on this challenge from both a professional and personal perspective.

During my career as a neuroscientist,  I have witnessed and contributed to the enormous advances in the understanding of how the brain operates and how it changes in mental health conditions. In parallel I have seen the impact that mental ill-health can have on family and friends.

There remains a large gap between our understanding of
mental health disorders and developing improvements in care for mental health sufferers.   However, I am optimistic, that we are now poised to move from the descriptive and discovery phase to
research that will lead to early interventions and personalised treatments.
This can only be achieved with increased funding for mental health research which still lags way behind that of physical health conditions.

For me, exercise is an important part of my mental health and wellbeing. I enjoy yoga, Pilates and walking in the countryside with my dogs.  However, arthritis in my knee is curtailing my activities and I am about to have a total knee replacement.  During my recovery it will be both a physical and mental challenge to get back to activities that I once enjoyed pain free. I plan to provide weekly updates as I move from walking a few meters a day with a walking aid to walking a mile unaided within one month.

So I am taking on this challenge for several reasons:

• To raise  critical funds for and awareness of the important research that MQ are doing.
• To show that it is possible to overcome a personal ‘Uphill Struggle’ whether that be related to a physical and/or mental challenge that you are faced with.
• To hopefully inspire people to get involved in their own Uphill Struggle challenge.