Vet Claire stepping out for mental health charities

Claire Whittle from Whitchurch based practice LLM Farm Vets, says mental health is close to her heart. She is running to raise money for the Farming Community Network and The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).

It is not her first marathon but it is the first time she has done so with such purpose.

“Last year, we received some heart-breaking news in our family," she said.

"Until this day we cannot understand why nothing was said or why they didn’t ask for help, but that is the unfortunate stigma of mental health. Middle aged men are quoted as most likely to ‘put on a brave face’ or just ‘get on with it’, so we must do what we can to open up this conversation and try to break down this stigma.”

Since graduating from Liverpool University in 2014, Claire has focused on large animals, working with farmer. She worked and lived in many rural communities before settling on the Shropshire/Welsh border and said she has seen the struggles farmers go through.

“Farmers endure long, unsociable hours, physically and emotionally demanding work, whilst also working very closely with family, which I’m sure we can all agree can be tough. Couple this with financial, political and public perception pressure and you can see how stress can easily build up. It isn’t a weakness to talk to someone or ask for help.

“I’m definitely not doing this marathon out of love for running. I’m doing it to raise awareness of the charities that are there to help and doing a fantastic job. However I think we can all do a bit more to banish this stigma for good.”

The Farming Community Network, Fcn.org.uk, is a voluntary organisation that supports those within the farming community through difficult times. Their volunteers have close links with agriculture, and have a great understanding of the issues farmers face.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably, thecalmzone.net is leading a movement against suicide, the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK.