A Marathon for Mental Health

The growing awareness of the devastating impact poor mental health can have on individuals and their families has led a local runner in last month’s London Marathon to share his fundraising efforts with two locally involved charities.

Andrew Fulton, Boulby general manager and Vice President, raised over £1,200 on behalf of ‘Heads Together’ the mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Andrew Fulton feeling the pain in Greenwich

“More and more people are beginning to realise that mental health issues can affect anyone at any time,” said Mr Fulton. “This has been highlighted by the pandemic which put an extra strain on all of us,” he added.

To raise further awareness ICL Boulby decided to match fund the money raised, with the extra cash being divided between two local support providers – Redcar and Cleveland MIND and the Russ Devereux Headlight Project.

Founder of the Headlight Project, Catherine Devereux thanked ICL Boulby for their donation, saying, “We are delighted to receive this fundraising donation and special thanks goes to Andrew for his brilliant achievement of completing the marathon whilst raising awareness about mental health issues. Most of our work is funded from local fundraisers and without it we simply couldn’t provide the services we do. Andrew’s efforts will go to helping those that need it most in our area.”

Andrew Fulton at the finish line.

It comes as this week (commencing November 15th) has been designated Environmental, Social and Governance week at Boulby. This comes as an addition to the mental, wellbeing and health support already on offer to all workers. It will highlight conservation of the natural world, including air and water pollution; consideration of people and relationships, including customer satisfaction; and the standards needed for running a company.

Veronica Harnett the CEO for Redcar & Cleveland Mind thanked ICL Boulby for their generous donation, saying “at a time when our charity is reviewing our environmental impact, it is very apt that we’re receiving this donation during your Environmental, Social and Governance week. We’re working with all the people we support, our staff and our trustees, to consider what steps we can take to reduce our carbon footprint, a subject which is high on everyone’s agendas right now in the light of COP26. We take social value very seriously in all our work and remain deeply committed to improving the lives of people across our communities.”

To find out more about the charities mentioned in this article, please click one of the following logo’s below: