Raising awareness around mental health issues and normalising seeking support as well as early intervention is SO important .. Because of this I have decided to challenge myself by signing up to run this year’s Bath Half Marathon to raise money for Off The Record - The mental health organisation I work for who do amazing work providing free mental health services and support for the young people of Bristol, South Glos and North Somerset. 

Suicide is the leading cause of death in young people up to the age of 35! it's so messed up and just shows how important early mental health interventions are! 

It's so important that we all learn to reach out to the people around us or mental health professionals when we are struggling with our mental health and know that IT IS OK TO DO SO!! We have all lost so many amazing people because of the isolation that unsupported poor mental health brings..(whether it's from mental health issues or addiction which often comes from unresolved traumas / undiagnosed mental health issues). WHATEVER the reason SEEKING SUPPORT needs to be NORMALISED!  EARY INTERVENTION needs to be invested in!

I generally only post positive stuff about myself on my socials and tbh this is NOT an accurate representation of my life .. as I'm talking about mental health I feel that it's important I am transparent about my struggles with mental health because we ALL have them and again we must have these conversations to help normalise it and hopefully encourage people to seek support when needed! In the past (and still the present sometimes) I have struggled with stuff related to mental health issues and although I have come so far and generally I live a healthy and happy life, I still struggle… I still have dark days where I slip back into old patterns of negative thinking or unhealthy behaviours.... On those days it's most important to reach out, do something that lifts you, call a friend …. For me it's speaking with my loved ones (even though generally I won't answer my phone or answer messages on those days… I'm lucky that a few certain people in my life know this about me and will keep calling) doing some yoga or something active helps pulls me back up… I think my point is that it's important to recognise and acknowledge when we feel our mental health decline & trying to understand the reasons behind / underneath, The why’s and our triggers are so important when on the healing journey. Instead of beating ourselves up or choosing to escape /ignore / block which ultimately causes more damage, it's important that we learn to REACH OUT or find healthy ways to deal with this stuff!!  allowing ourselves space to understand, process and accept the whys and being kind and gentle with ourselves is integral to healing ourselves… sometimes this is something we might need external support with and THAT IS OK!

I could continue talking about the topic of mental health for much longer but I think I have already written a lot so I will leave it with one last thought …..When I was growing up within the school systems there was little to no support or awareness surrounding mental health issues and young people these days have so many more pressures on them living in a world of social media and everything else that is happening in the world right now which contributes to worries and poor mental health which is another reason I am so passionate about supporting OFF THE RECORD to raise more awareness and support for the work that they do…. I have just over 6 weeks to train and a bit of an old hip injury so wish me luck …if you can please donate and I will be sharing updates over the next 6 weeks….If you’ve read this far I appreciate your time.. Lots of love xXx