I'm Fran, a mum of 3 great kids & partner to an amazing man who happens to suffer with mental health issues which up until a few years ago was managing just fine, then with the stress of work & possibly another premature baby things started to take hold & when we reached out for help/support there wasn't any or what there was had waiting lists of years! Yes that's right we were on one waiting list for over a year. Now this is all due to lack of funding. Lack of funding for a health issue that claims 100's of lives, effects many & is on the increase.
It was one late night I came across the wonderful work that HARMLESS do & after reaching out our lives changed almost instantly for the better. I had HOPE! My partner had HOPE! We found people that not only cared but fought to get us heard and get us help & help us get back on track.
I'm not going to go into the issues my partner has that's his story to tell. But as a person watching someone you love going through mental health issues, trying your best to understand & support them,seek help for them & fight for them when they can't, you see the flaws in the system, you tire of endlessly having doors shut in your face or being quoted ridiculous prices to get help privately. Your already tired from keeping up a positive front for the person suffering, your already exhausted from the sleepless nights of worrying about them, researching how to help them, trawling the internet for anything. Your hope fades quickly & cracks start to appear. You feel like your trying to walk through mud & all this time your partner, or child or family member is suffering 100% more than you, trying to deal with their mental health problems & only having you if they are lucky to turn too & fight for them. HARMLESS changed all this.They were the support I needed as well as my partner. Without them I don't know where we'd be.
I turned 30 this year & wanted to do something special so from 18mths of no exercise to a half marathon to raise money!
