Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Every May for around 7 years, my family and I have fundraised for ME charities for ME awareness month but this year, I want to do something different. I've been debating shaving my hair short since last year and I've finally decided that on 24th May (the last day of Mental Health Awareness week), I'm going to shave it into a buzzcut (17 inches OFF) and fundraise for Mental Health Research UK!

Positively, mental health seems to be becoming a less taboo topic, with celebrities opening up about their problems and more representation in film and media. Despite this, I haven't been particularly open with my mental health issues, especially in comparison to how I am with my physical health (my ME), due to stigma and discomfort but I think it's time to change that.

Hi, I'm Katie and I suffer with depression and anxiety. I began struggling with anxiety (specifically social) at age 13 and then developed depression about a year later. I've had various treatments including different therapies and medication, some of which I found helped my anxiety but unfortunately, I didn't find they improved my depression (PLEASE NOTE: this is just my experience, many people have great success with these treatments and I would always recommend trying them if you need to). This is why I want to I chose Mental Health Research UK as the charity to raise money for. There are many good mental health charities which help support and care for those suffering with mental health issues, which is definitely important and valuable, but very little money goes toward research whereas at least 95% of donations collected for Mental Health Research UK is used to fund research into the underlying causes of mental ill health and treatments for mental health problems.

With everything that's going on right now, mental health is important. We must join together and stay connected, even whilst we are apart.

If you can donate, please do! Even if it's just a small amount, it all helps. If you can't donate, you can still help simply by sharing this page. Thank you all, stay safe and stay positive!