Here at Covance, we believe that raising awareness of mental health issues is vital. ‘World Mental Health Day’ is this week on Thursday 10th October, and this year’s theme, set by the ‘World Federation for Mental Health’ is suicide prevention. In 2018 there were 6507 deaths in the UK from suicide. Anybody killing themselves is too many.

For those that may be suffering from mental health issues there is a range of support available here in the UK.

The NHS have a superb website called ‘Every Mind Matters’ where you can find useful information about mental health, and get your own ‘Mind Plan’ with advice for how to look after your own mental health, by taking a short quiz. Visit the link to their website to find out more: https://bit.ly/2Iy49s1  

The charity ‘Mind’ does amazing work to break down the barriers surrounding mental health and encourage open dialogue surrounding the topic. You can visit the information & support section of their website here to learn more: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/

A valued colleague and friend of ours here at Covance Leeds, James is helping to raise funds for the Mind charity in Leeds. James is taking part in ‘Rat Race Hell Runner 2019’ on Sunday 12th October in memory of his friend Maud, a young woman who took her own life recently. You can support his fundraising by visiting this link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hell-run-for-maud  

Rat Race Hell Runner is a half marathon, which sees participants running a course of 13 miles through hills, bogs and water, so we want to say a huge ‘good luck’ to James, who is taking part along with a group of his friends to raise money for this worthy cause.