How I made money for Mind by dressing up as Freddie Mercury

When I first started fundraising for Mind, I would post a few funny photos on Instagram and Facebook with some captions. They would be quite silly pictures such as me dressed as the Mona Lisa or Freddie Mercury. I found that by being funny, I would get people’s attention.

“I decided to fundraise every year around November time and soon I was creating spoof videos and mini sketches as well as photos.”

I’d write a comical caption and provide a link to my donations page – people were very generous. I decided to fundraise every year around November time and soon I was creating spoof videos and mini sketches as well as photos. It really began to snowball: the first year I raised £300, the second year I raised £900 and the third year it was £2,000.

My wife Nav really helped me out by brainstorming ideas and making sure everything looked good. It’s become a real joint effort between us.

I was drawn to Mind as I know what good work they do, but also because of my own mental health. I’ve only recently been diagnosed with OCD and anxiety but when I was younger there were always rumblings of low mood and ebbs and flows in my mental health. I’ve started talking therapy which has really helped me.

Raising awareness

It’s so important to raise awareness of mental health but more than that I feel it’s necessary to increase the understanding of what it means to have a mental health issue. People need to have a meaningful understanding of what it’slike to have a lived experience of mental health, such as OCD, depression or anxiety.

I think what Mind does is great. Not only does it support people with their mental health, but it also lobbies for bigger structural change around mental health legislation. As my fundraising has grown over the years, I’ve made sure that, as well my fundraising page, I include a link to the Mind website where there are plenty of resources to help people.

“I have had people come up to me and talk to me about their mental health through my fundraising.”

I’ve also started creating short videos with my family and friends talking about their own mental health, whether that is depression, anxiety, cultural expectations around mental health or coping with mental health while facing cancer. I have had people come up to me and talk to me about their mental health through my fundraising.

Over the 10 years I’ve been fundraising I’ve raised over £50,000 for Mind. I’ve taken a break last year and this year, ironically to focus on my own mental health, but I very much hope to do some more in the future. It’s so important that we create an understanding of mental health as well as an awareness.