My name is Chris, and when I’m not out and about travelling and meeting people, I’m in Bournemouth where I work in accounting and tax.
What are your interests?
My interests all seem to be fitness related. I enjoy football, swimming, climbing and running is my new favourite. I’ll run anywhere, any time with anyone – it helps clear my mind!
How did you come to Dorset Mind?
I wanted to raise awareness about the importance of good mental health and decided to challenge myself and run every day for a year. I was searching for a charity to partner with, and a friend told me about Dorset Mind. I was instantly sold once I’d read about all the incredible work they’re doing in our community.
Has anything changed since becoming an ambassador:
I know it sounds like a cliche but my life has changed completely.For the last year, I’ve been learning about mental health, and sharing what I’ve learnt. Re-educating myself – and others – has been key. It’s been a great pleasure to meet so many different people. Seeing people from different places come together, share life experiences and promote dialogue on mental health has been life changing.
How has Dorset Mind helped you?
Dorset Mind has opened my eyes to the meaning of ‘Ubuntu’ and the essence of being human, being a family. We all need each other to get through struggles in life. I can get better from you being better. You can grow if I grow. Your healing helps with mine. We can break the stigma around mental health together because together we can achieve so much.
What do you hope to achieve and what’s driving you?
My hope is to help people everywhere understand that we are all incredible just as we are. We have worth and a purpose.
My aim is to challenge and encourage. I know we all go through difficult moments and seasons in life, but we can all heal and grow from them. There’s always room for kindness and I’m so excited to be able to be on this journey raising awareness on the importance of positive living.
One piece of advice I can give:
One of the things I believe strongly is that there’s always hope. I like to remind people that no matter the circumstance, whatever you’re going through – there’s hope. It’s also important that we realise our strength and its link to positive mental wellness. Understanding that people are going through so much and we need to support each other. Now more than ever. We need to break the stigma surrounding mental illness and talk about it openly.
