Five M&S North East colleagues aim to raise £5k for YoungMinds by taking on Great North Run

This Sunday, five M&S colleagues from across the North East are taking on the Great North Run to raise money for YoungMinds, the leading mental health charity for young people in the UK.

Hellen Chaganis, Store Manager at M&S Durham Arnison, Rob Slone, Store Manager at M&S The Galleries, which opened in May, Zoe Bober, Deputy Store Manager at M&S Silverlink in Newcastle and Vicky Stephenson and Josh Cooper, Deputy Store Managers at M&S Metrocentre in Gateshead have been training for months in preparation for the 13-mile run from Newcastle to South Shields.

YoungMinds, M&S’ charity partner, provide mental health support for young people across the UK and the adults in their lives, including running a parents helpline which provides advice and support.

Hellen Chaganis, Store Manager at M&S Durham Arnison and one of the five taking on the Great North Run said: “We are incredibly excited, and slightly nervous, for this Sunday! The training has been a real challenge but what has got us through is the fantastic support we’ve had from the entire M&S team in the North East and our incredible customers. We cannot believe we’ve already hit our target and with 3 days still to go we’re hoping to raise even more. YoungMinds is charity really close to our hearts and they do fantastic work in supporting young people, their parents and carers - for parents like Rob and I it’s good to know there are people to turn to should our children need support. We are so proud to be playing our part in helping support YoungMinds work and we will be easy to spot, crossing the finishing line in our yellow YoungMinds t-shirts!”

The team have set a fundraising target of £5,000 and thanks to the generous donations of colleagues, customers, friends and family have already raised an incredible £6.8k so far on their online fundraising page here.

Over the past few months, the team have organised a range of in-store events across the retailer’s North East stores, including a ‘Paint the North East Yellow’ day where M&S colleagues swapped their uniform for yellow clothes in support of YoungMinds.

M&S announced a brand new partnership with YoungMinds last October and is aiming to raise £5million over the next three years to support seven million young people and the adults in their lives. So far, over £2.1million has been raised.

Laura Bunt, Chief Executive of YoungMinds, said: “Life is increasingly tough for young people and record numbers are in need of support for their mental health. When they’re able to access the help they need, things can get better, but the wait for support is often too long or the right support isn’t available. Together with M&S, we want to show young people that together we can turn things around. The incredible fundraising efforts of Hellen, Rob, Zoe, Josh, Vicky and the whole team at M&S will help us reach and support more young people and the adults in their lives – the whole YoungMinds team will be cheering them on this Sunday!”

Research commissioned last year by M&S and Young Minds found that despite struggling with their mental health, 65% of young people hadn’t asked for any kind of formal support – 33% of those said they felt too embarrassed.

While loneliness was found to be the primary cause of mental health problems among the young people surveyed, 61% of those waiting for mental health support said they had stopped attending school, college, university, or work – risking greater isolation form their friends.