Poor mental health is a cruel and punishing struggle and one which touched me when my Father took his own life.

That was fourteen years ago, and thankfully attitudes are slowly beginning to evolve, mental health is getting an increasing amount of attention and people's awareness of mental illness is beginning to develop. If more people had been open and understanding of mental illness, if the support available had been more widely publicised, and if he had been better equipped to understand the way that he felt at that time, perhaps he would be here now, perhaps he would be a Grandfather to my son.

I've been lucky to have been loved and supported by some wonderful people in my Father's absence, but of course, nothing can fill the space that he left. A loving Father is a magical thing and to miss that throughout your adult life is a tragic struggle in itself. 

I'm also very lucky that I've had access to fantastic help when I've faced my own mental illness. It's an ongoing battle but I live in a world where the appropriate weapons are available to me, where my son will hopefully know me for many many many years to come.

I hope that by supporting and raising money for Mind, through a variety of activities both big and small, I'll ensure that just one person, somewhere, gets the help that they need to overcome or manage mental illness, so that their children get some more time to spend with their Mother or Father.