The wise and resilient Forest Gump shares with us ‘life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.’ Sometimes what we ‘get’ is challenging. Mental health and well-being support services such as Aware, can help us chomp through the not so nice chocolates. Aware informs, educates and supports. Akin to Forest, Aware’s message is one of hope: recovery is possible. Aware is a truly scrumptious and vital offering for our Irish society.

Forest also said ‘there’s an awful lot you can tell about a person by their shoes’. Forest’s mum told him his shoes were magic. With that belief, this man achieved true greatness. Inspired by the Gump’s relentless optimism, I am telling myself that my shoes are magic too! In lieu of the harbour to harbour walk this St.Patrick's day, my pledge is to complete the 1day 26k walk in my locality adhering to restrictions and I will personally match what fundraising is collected on my page for this important cause. Together let us please support Aware support people to find their magic and taste the feelings of hope and joy again.