The Mental Health Foundation is the UK’s charity for everyone’s mental health.

With prevention at the heart of what they do, the Mental Health Foundation aim to find and address the sources of mental health problems so that people and communities can thrive.

Message from Susie & Gilly:

We're both terrified at the thought of skydiving, but feel we want to do something really challenging for the reasons below, in the hope of raising plenty of sponsorship.

We've both had our own battles with poor mental health over the last 40 years, and have been very fortunate to be well supported by friends, family, the Fellowship, NHS and council-funded services. There have been some real lows for each of us, but we feel very grateful for the lives and families that we have, and strive to help others in our work, and in how we respond to others in general. A kind word or a listening ear can make the difference between life and death in some circumstances. This alone would be enough for us to want to raise money for the Mental Health Foundation.

Last year the world turned upside down when on the 27th July Gilly's eldest son Jack took his own life.

Jack had been struggling with the imminent death of his own mother from cancer, and had been reaching out for support and engaging well with making changes in his life. At the age of just 29, he stopped living, and we want to raise money in his memory so that others don't have to suffer in the way that Jack did. If the life of one person can be saved by the money we raise here then our skydive will have been worth it.

In addition, we hope that we can all stop to think about the others around us, and check in if someone is acting differently, or doesn't seem OK. Someone who has decided to take their own life that day can be diverted by such a small intervention, often from a stranger or someone they don't know well, and encouraged to give life another go.