ACE staff will be rallying round this coming week (Mental Health Awareness Week May 13-19) and for a good few weeks afterwards to support the fundraising efforts of Sarah Guille’s mum, Julia, who plans to take part in trekking The Great Wall of China in October.

Sarah is a PA at ACE. In January this year, Sarah’s 28-year-old sister, Bethany, took her own life after many years suffering with mental health issues. Julia is trekking in memory of her youngest daughter and, in doing so, hopes to raise awareness of mental health issues and valuable funds for the Mental Health Foundation.

This coming week will see ACE staff helping raise some of the £3,150 minimum required to take part in the trek. Activities include:

• raffle tickets will be sold throughout the week
• Dress down (minimum donation £1) will be on Wednesday May 15
• Bake sale will be held on Monday May 20, with the raffle to be drawn that afternoon

Donations of good quality prizes are welcomed for the raffle, and anyone who would like to bake/buy cakes etc. to bring in on 20^th May would be very welcome to do so.

  Bethany   Bethany with sisters Joanne and Sarah

Sarah has been deeply touched by the show of support by her colleagues. “They’ve been absolutely amazing. I’ve been blown away by their support every step of the way since Bethany’s death,” said Sarah. “We have a big target to hit if mum is to realise her ambition to take part in the trek. We need to have raised £2,500 by July 31 so there’s a lot of hard fundraising to do. As well as the activities this coming week, we have a number of other events planned so we’re keeping all our fingers crossed we can hit that target.”

Sarah said that though Bethany had been suffering with mental health issues since the age of 11, it was still a terrible shock when she took her own life. “The family was still recovering from the death of my dad in October last year when Bethany’s tragedy struck us. Since her death, we’ve all been trying to piece together the picture of her life and we’ve found out so much.

“Bethany never wanted to talk much about her mental health issues and it seems this is still a common problem. Much of the Mental Health Foundation’s work is about educating people about mental health and bringing it out into the open. It’s so important issues are picked up as early as possible and discussed so they don’t escalate to the point where someone is so desperate, they will take their own life,” said Sarah.

Julia said she is ‘nervously excited’ at the prospect of trekking The Great Wall of China. “During the course of the trek, we’ll be covering 70kms and there’s one point where we have to climb more than 200 steps. I’ve been getting in training by doing lots of walking with my two dogs (pictured with Sarah). Since Bethany’s death, I’ve got to know more of the wonderful work the Mental Health Foundation does so I am very determined to do my bit towards raising funds and, more importantly, awareness of mental health issues.”

The Mental Health Foundation is a charity for everyone’s mental health and prevention is at the heart of what they do. By finding and addressing the sources of mental health problems, their work enables people and communities to thrive with good mental health. The charity conducts research and works to advocate for change with reports and campaigns to encourage policy-makers and key influencers to fight stigma and bring about change. www.mentalhealth.org.uk

Further information about Sarah’s mum’s campaign can be found at:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/guille_89