A MENTAL health support worker from Odiham has used her own struggles to support others by launching an online wellbeing community which has gone from “strength to strength” over the past year.

20-year-old Emma was inspired to start up the Kind to Mind group by her own experiences with poor mental health and the coping mechanisms she developed.

She told the Gazette: “I started Kind To Mind after struggling with my mental wellbeing since mid-childhood. From the age of nine, I was using unhealthy coping mechanisms to regulate how I was feeling. By the age of 17 I had hardly allowed myself to feel anything by using food and weight loss in the form of Bulimia to numb the underlying depression and anxiety.”

Emma, who now works as a Mental health support worker with the Priory Group, continued: “Two years later, and I attempted some form of recovery only to find that without my various 'anaesthetics' I was overwhelmed by my emotions. I threw myself into self care and various tools and techniques to keep myself well and at times even thriving. I had learnt quite a lot and decided it was time to share my experience - so I founded Kind To Mind at the age of 19”.

Kind To Mind is based on the principle that through self care and meeting your own needs, people can support their own wellbeing. Emma says the organisation, which is run by herself and a team of 10 volunteers, recognises that professional support is also vital and valid, but understands that if everyone was kinder to their minds in the first place, then a lot of mental health issues could be avoided.

The group, which is present across multiple social media channels and is aimed specifically at Basingstoke and Farnham residents, offers free self help resources in the form of worksheets, blog posts, Kind To Mind toolkits and wellbeing packs.

On July 26, Kind To Mind is hosting a free Open Day event at Roost Cafe, Farnham where the group will be there to answer any questions, give short talks, as well as provide free wellbeing resources to anybody who would like one.

It aims to rely solely on donations and bookings, however Emma says her two part-time jobs currently help fund the charity as well as her own living costs.

“In order for Kind To Mind to reach its potential I really need your help,” said Emma.

“We want to get to the stage where donations fund all the resources and I am able to spend my time on the charity rather than having to work 12 hours shifts in a psychiatric hospital.

“Kind To Mind is my passion and the thing I love to do more than anything.”

For more information about getting involved, or to make a donation, visit: www.kindtomind.org.