This September, our strategy director, Alexis Bradbury, is pledging to dedicate his Mont Blanc climb to Unmasked Mental Health. Those of you familiar with Alexis and his passion for exploring won’t be surprised to learn that his next personal challenge will be summiting Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe.
What started as a personal challenge is now taking on an even greater purpose as he dedicates his climb to raising awareness and funds for our new charity partner, Unmasked Mental Health – a charity providing vital mental health support throughout our region. As he climbs to new heights, he’ll be taking our shared commitment to mental health awareness with him – quite literally!
A little about Mont Blanc
At 4,805 metres above sea level, Mont Blanc is the highest mountain in Europe. On average, it sees 20,000 mountaineer tourists each year, and at peak climbing time (on weekends in August), the local rescue service performs 12 missions. With his drive, determination, and previous experience, we’re confident Alexis won’t need their services!
A little about Alexis and his previous challenges
Avid readers of the Browndog blog will have recently seen our Browndog Travels edition featuring Alexis’ trip to Everest Basecamp this time last year – he’s certainly no stranger to challenging physical experiences.
In recent years he has undertaken a pro-am cycle race across the Pyrenees for local charity Hollybank, undertaken a 5 day bike race in France with more than 15,000m of climbing for Kirkwood Hospice, and scaled Mount Triglav in Slovenia. After completing all 214 Wainwrights (mountains) in the Lake District, he is now aiming to complete all 282 Scottish Munros (mountains over 3000ft).
A bit about Unmasked
Unmasked Mental Health offers a safe, regulated space for people experiencing mental health challenges. Through local Hubs, the charity provides access to professional counselling, peer support, and specialist training. They also work with employers to raise awareness and improve mental health provision in the workplace.
As a social prescribing partner with NHS England, Unmasked enables GPs to directly refer patients in need of additional mental health support, offering an essential lifeline to many.
Find out more about our partnership with Unmasked.
Another upcoming challenge
No stranger to supporting charities in need through his passion for the outdoors, from 20th–22nd June, Alexis will also be taking on the Winder Power Coast to Coast Charity Cycle, riding across the country alongside our long-time client, Winder Power, to raise funds for Emmaus Leeds.
Emmaus Leeds does more than provide shelter – they offer help to people rebuilding their lives with meaningful support and a sense of community. Every donation will go towards helping them continue their incredible work.
We’ll be cheering Alexis on every mile of the way, and if you’d like to support the cause, every penny counts!
How you can help
If you’re in a position to offer support – whether individually, or as a business – there’s multiple ways you can make a difference:
- Donate – you can visit our donations page and give what you can here
- Sponsorship – cheer on this huge climb by sponsoring Alexis in his 4,805 metre ascent. If we raised £1 for every metre of his climb, we’d smash our small target and really make a difference to mental health support in our area.
- Share – we all know the power of social media – each like, comment and share will boost our engagement and help spread awareness. Maybe someone you know is looking for support and needs a little direction? Or maybe someone who has received this vital support is looking to give back? Either way, we’re grateful for every interaction.
- Get involved – if you’ve got a fundraising idea, we’d love to hear it. Want to join us? We’d love to have you!
We’ll be sharing updates from Alexis as he prepares for his steep challenge, and we’ll also keep you posted on our other efforts (not all of us are quite so physically inclined) to quickly reach (and hopefully surpass) our £250 target for Unmasked Mental Health.
