Ellie’s Skydive over the Great Barrier Reef

It’s super scary to be so honest but I’m doing it to try and help others in similar situations feel less alone and open up more conversations around mental health to make it less of a taboo as it’s something the majority of us struggle with, at least some point in our lives.

As a result of the taboo around mental health and being seen as less than, I never considered myself as someone who struggles mentally. However, there have been signs for a long time and if I was honest about them, maybe things would have gotten to such a dark point.

In February this year, I had a mental breakdown and ended up in A&E. Things got so scary for me I didn’t see any alternative. I suffer with low self esteem and have since been diagnosed with chronic depression.

It took me a very long time to pull myself out of that place and it is still very much a work in progress but I’m extremely proud of how far I’ve come. I wouldn’t of been able to have done this without the incredible support of my Mum, Dad and sisters 💗

Unfortunately, I was massively let down by the NHS who provided no support. This is why I want to support WISH as they help fund counselling which is so crucial to recovery. I am extremely lucky to be in the privileged position of being able to have access to private healthcare and receive weekly therapy. This is not the case for many people. Without therapy, I would still be in that dark place. This shouldn’t be the case for anyone.

WISH also provide key training for people to be able to better support people in their lives who are struggling. I was unfortunately let down by many people close to me, possibly through lack of knowledge of what to do - WISH can help prevent this from happening.

The only good thing to come out of my mental breakdown was booking a ticket to Australia where I will be travelling around for 3 months towards the end of this year. Im pushing myself out of my comfort zone and doing a lot of scary things like a skydive as life is precious and you can only do it once so I want to make sure I make the most of it and support WISH so others can make the most of it too!

Please donate whatever you can and if you can’t donate, please share this page 💗