JCI members are active in many ways. JCI Senator Kate Atkin's husband Stuart is walking around England for charity. Read how you can support him. 

My husband, Stuart Jessup, is taking a year out of teaching and is walking 2,500 miles round England for charity, starting on 9th October. We are linking the walk to the "Time to Change" campaign that aims to reduce the stigma associated with mental illness and we are also fundraising for two charities engaged in this task, SANE and Anxiety UK. More details can be found on the walk's website www.walkingontheedge.org.uk Stuart has personal insight into the stigma and issues surround mental health as he has suffered from chronic depression for much of his life.

Covering about 15 miles a day, six days a week, along with Poppy our springer spaniel, we expect the walk to take between seven or eight months. During this time Stuart's home will be a campervan, which he will return to at the end of each day by public transport and drive on to the start of the next section the following morning; I have a week a month scheduled to join him to be both moral support and driver.

An invitation:

Join us if you can in London on 9th October, as we will walk across Tower Bridge to start the walk. I am in the process of organizing a "meet point" so do let me know if you plan to come and I'll keep you updated.

It is also possible to sponsor Stuart at http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/walkingontheedge or make a pledge to sponsor Stuart by the mile

There are other ways to help, including...

• Talking about mental health. The aim of the Time to Change campaign is to make it as easy to talk about mental health problems as it is to talk about physical illnesses. The taboos around admitting to suffering from a mental health condition can isolate the sufferer and make the condition much worse than it needs to be. However one in four of us will suffer from a mental illness at some point in our lives (mainly depression and anxiety disorders) and at any moment one in six people are suffering. So just talking openly with others about depression, anxiety and other mental health problems is step towards alleviating this suffering. We are both happy to give talks based on our personal experiences of mental health issues.
• Help publicise the walk. If you would like to tell colleagues, friends and family about the walk that would be great. There is a blog on the website, and Stuart is also on Twitter (@englandwalk) and there's a Facebook page (just search for "Stuart Jessup"). I am coordinating PR for the walk and would grateful for any media contacts around the country and we are open to opportunities to give talks about the walk to local groups. Our very first press article, in the Cambridge First newspaper appeared back in July, and there's a copy on the website.

Thank you for your support.

kate@walkingontheedge.org.uk and Stuart@walkingontheedge.org.uk
www.walkingontheedge.org.uk

http://twitter.com/englandwalk