Six years ago, I wasn’t doing particularly well with regards to my own mental health. Long story short, I needed some self-confidence, something I’d lacked throughout my teenage and adult life.
After sitting with my GP, one of my long term goals was to volunteer somewhere. One thing I discovered during the time I needed help was that there had been big cuts to mental health provision and many places were crying out for volunteers – so I put myself forward. Two interviews later and several brilliantly run courses by the team at Coventry and Warwickshire Mind, and I was on board!
Because of this, when I was looking for a place to raise funds for, Coventry and Warwickshire Mind was the natural choice. I’ve worked in two areas of the charity – starting in befriending and currently, running a social evening in an Intensive Recovery Unit over in Hillfields.
The reason I was keen to raise funds
Ever since I’ve been helping out, I’ve met clients who have benefitted from the money that is raised. It’s unique to see a charity from the inside and I fully appreciate the fantastic work the staff do. I’ve seen people arrive at the centre in real crisis and leave a few months later a completely different person. The staff have always been great with me and assisted my evenings where they can.
So, following the pandemic, I set out to improve my own mental health, by getting back to exercising properly, and also to raise some much needed funds. I decided to run 2021 kilometres in 2021 which works out at 6km per day. Doesn’t sound much but for someone with a hectic home life as well as full time work it’s more about finding the time. Part of the challenge was to keep motivated – my aim was to run the Coventry Half marathon and then later in the year the Chester Full marathon. As it transpired, they ended up being a fortnight apart because of cancellations. It was a very tiring October but now it’s done!
Just 270kms to go before Christmas at the time of writing!