Annabel's Marathon fundraiser for Mind

Do you want to join me in making a difference? I'm raising money in aid of Minds Matter TA Ltd and every donation will help. Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

More information about Minds Matter TA Ltd: We're Mind, the mental health charity. We won't give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets support and respect.

I am fundraising for Mind because:

One of the biggest life-experiences to have impacted me, so far has been mental illness.

And now knowing the incredible support Mind offers I want to fundraise to enable Mind to advertise and be able to provide even more support to individuals like myself when they need it most.

I have had the privilege of working as a Support Time and Recovery Worker in Windsor, Ascot, and Maidenhead NHS Community Mental Health Team, where my role was funded by Buckinghamshire Mind. During this time being able to see first-hand the incredible positive impact and life changing support they provide was amazing. This is why I would love to fundraise for Mind by running the London marathon, so that I can fund more projects, and support services which are becoming increasingly needed in the current times following on from the pandemic.

During my marathon journey I have now changed roles and have the amazing opportunity to work as a Lived Experience Practitioner, where I use my lived experience of my own mental health journey and recovery to support both patients and professionals. As part of this I get to work with an incredible NHS service and team to provide both consultation, training, and peer support as part of an assertive stabilisation team.

Running has been something I wasn’t always able to do due to being unwell. So now being able to run both for fun with friends and for myself to clear my head after a day at work is such a privilege and powerful thing for me. And so being able to run the marathon for Mind would be such a special moment and is something I would love to do.

Ultimately, I love how Mind serves people and their relatives/carers struggling with their mental health and I want to fundraise to enable Mind to continue supporting people to have a better quality of life and know they have a life worth living. And to provide hope for individuals in their darkest times, supporting them to know that like me a fulfilling life is possible even with a mental health diagnosis.