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‘Eat them to defeat them’ encouraging children to eat healthier
Best foot forward to aid mental health
Student Courtney Barr will be running 27 miles in 27 days to raise money for students’ mental health. By GABBY BERGONZI
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Looking after students’ mental health at university is a top priority. With exam stress, financial stress and all the other worries, it is so important to support each other to make sure everyone’s mental health stays stable.
Courtney Barr, 21, from Manchester is a student at John Moores University who truly understands the struggles of mental health.
She will be running 27 miles in 27 days with Strava and Spotify to raise £200 for mental health charity MIND to 27 miles over 27 days in solidarity with every student struggling with their mental health.
MIND is a charity who provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.
Courtney knows the struggles of how it feels to feel low during university. She said: “Mental health can be a silent torture. It has the power to isolate and steal any happiness from things that once brought you joy. Studies have shown that 1 in 5 students suffer from a mental health problem. Let’s end the stigma and beat mental health together.”
Physical activity such as running has a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. It can help to increase our self-esteem and can reduce stress and anxiety. It also plays a role in preventing the development of mental health problems and in improving the quality of life of people experiencing poor mental health. Knowing this, Courtney decided that a sponsored run would be an effective way to help support such an important cause.
“University can be a stressful time. Even though it is full of amazing memories and fun, the pressure of exams and Uni work can get on top of you. Even though I am not the best runner, I am practising every day in preparation for this. I feel so passionate about changing the stigma of mental health.”
According to UCAS, over the last decade there has been a significant shift in the willingness of students to talk about their mental health – the number of UK applicants to UCAS that shared a mental health condition has increased by 450% in this time. Their most recent report showed 3.7% of all UK applicants declared a mental health condition in their application to study in 2020 – up from 0.7% in 2011. UCAS also discovered that women are 2.2 times more likely to declare a mental health condition than men.
A University of Liverpool student who donated £10 to the cause said: “It makes me so happy to see fellow students coming together to support our mental health. I am so proud of Courtney for doing this – she will smash it.”
Go to Givepenny.com and simply choose how much to donate and sponsor Courtney’s challenge. In return, you can choose any track on Spotify to add to Courtney’s playlist, which she will listen to during her run.
Courtney Barr from Manchester Photo: Courtney Barr
Running along the seafront Photo: Unsplash.com
FACTS ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH:
• One in six adults experience a common mental health problem, such as anxiety or depression
• One in five adults have considered taking their own life at some point
• Suicide was the leading cause of death for males and females aged between five to 34 in 2019
• One in five people have suicidal thoughts
• One in 14 people self-harm
• Women are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and make suicide attempts than men
• But men are 3 times more likely to take their own life than women
(Statistics from Mind.org.uk)
Committed
to theCause
These boobs were made for walkin’. Liverpool’s Uni Boob Team set out on a 10km walk across the city to raise money for the CoppaFeel! charity. GABBY MAXWELL talks to SOPHIA SMITH about her story...
We all have breast tissue, and breast cancer can affect any body. Whatever your age or gender, knowing your chest could save your life. CoppaFeel! is the first breast cancer charity in the UK to solely create awareness amongst young people, with the aim of instilling the knowledge they need to get to know their bodies.
CoppaFeel! brings the serious message in a light-hearted way and empowers people to start healthy habits for life. Cancer is a condition that causes cells in the body to grow uncontrollably. These cells form growths, called tumours. Everyone has breast tissue – people of all ages, races and genders. In the UK, 1 in 7 women and about 1 in 100 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. If breast cancer is diagnosed early, it is curable.
CoppaFeel! created the ‘Uni Boob Teams’ involving student ambassadors across the country who spend their time shouting about boob-checking and raising funds at university and have been doing so since 2010. From runs and swims, to throwing glitter parties and movie nights, these lot are well-equipped at getting students to cop a feel!
The president of Liverpool’s Uni Boob Team is 22-year-old Gabby Maxwell, a third-year sociology student at the University of Liverpool.
On Monday the team took to the streets of Liverpool in the wet and windy weather to walk 10km to raise money! The team encourage you to check your boobs regularly and empower you to seek advice from a doctor if symptoms persist. When they’re not busy shouting about boob-checking, they’re fundraising to support the life-saving work that CoppaFeel! do.
Gabby told MNL: “Four of us started at University square for the walk, it was dry at this point, ten minutes in it began raining heavily and halfway through it was like torrential rain and we were completely soaked! We had the big boob so everyone could see it!”
Whether you’re willing to offer up blood sweat and tears doing a sporting challenge or you just fancy
hosting a brunch, there are heaps of ways you can raise money and help us give everyone the best possible chance of surviving breast cancer. “We can get out and do things now. The first year we set up the team it was all online, we did Zoom’s because of covid, but now we have lots of things coming up, we have a quiz night for International Womens Day, a boob dodgeball, a lush night! We’ve got lots of things to look forward to!” Gabby became President of the Uni Boob Team in 2020. “I had heard about CoppaFeel! when I was younger, but I followed them at the end of 2018 on Instagram. I began checking my chest after seeing their posts and in November 2018 I found a lump on my chest.” said Gabby. “I was at university in Liverpool at the time and I went to the doctors here and they said it was hormonal because of my periods and they didn’t offer me a follow up check. The lump was quite big so when I went home for Christmas, I had another doctor’s appointment.” “My GP at home was really good, because they refer you anyway to WE CARRIED THE BIG BOOB SO EVERYONE COULD SEE IT ‘ ‘ get it checked out. I had a hospital appointment in January, and luckily, I was fine!” “At the time they thought it was breast cancer just because the lumps looked cancerous, so I had to have two biopsies in my boobs. I then had blood tests, an MRI, and a mammogram. Luckily it was okay but there was a lot of waiting because they did think something was wrong, so I had to wait three weeks for my results to come back. After this I wanted to see if university had any groups, but Liverpool University didn’t have a society, so I set one up in my second year!”
Gabby told MNL: “They had one three or four years ago but they stopped running it. Hopefully I will be doing a masters abroad but one of the girls in the
Gabby and the Uni Boob Team
The Boob Suit!
committee is going to be running for the president next year!” “We won a fundraising award from our student union, we managed to raise thousands from our Justgiving page. Some girls ran a half marathon and they managed to raise over £1500. We raised around £1200 too! All the money goes towards CoppaFeel!. They have subgroups so that each of our Uni Boob Teams can raise money seperately and it all goes together”.
Everyone has breast tissue – young, old, guys, gals and non-binary pals! Some of you might be surprised to know that around 400 men a year get breast cancer in the UK. Breast cancer in men is not common, but it can happen. If you are a man you should still be checking your chest.
Gabby told MLN: “I live with three boys and I have my boyfriend, they really get involved with the events. It’s good to have a guy representation because lot’s of men think breast cancer can’t affect them and that’s not the case. We’re planning on doing a video encouraging men to check their chests soon!
If you want to spread awareness in your healthcare practice, school, workplace, at your fundraising event, or even in your shower, CoppaFeel! has materials to help you get started.
From fundraising packs, school packs, awareness packs and shower packs! If want to spread the chest checking message CoppaFeel have everything you need to get started, including leaflets, stickers, and handy checking card!
CoppaFeel! was founded in 2009 by Kristin Hallenga and her twin sister Maren after Kris was diagnosed with secondary breast cancer at the age of 23. After finding a lump at 22, living abroad in China for 8 months and eventually visiting her doctor 3 times, Kris was told the news that she had incurable breast cancer. Kris was unaware that breast cancer could affect people in their twenties and knew very little about the disease. It struck her that there was very little information out there for young people, educating them about the disease, how they could be looking after themselves and informing them that breast cancer doesn’t just affect women over 50.
Although Kris will always live with cancer, she wanted to get the message out there to young people that
The Uni Boob Team on their 10K Liverpool walk
catching cancer early means you have a higher chance of surviving and recovering. She wanted people to learn from her story and become pro-active about their own health. The idea for CoppaFeel! was born.
Since then CoppaFeel! has grown from a determined duo based in Kris and Maren’s living room to a team of eighteen housed at Boob Towers in South London.
Knowing your boobs could save your life so join the fight, one step at a time. Get involved on the Coppafeel! website or donate at https:// www.justgiving.com/fundraising/liverpoolubt. Text UBT LIV to 70500 to get your free monthly reminder boob/ pec check text!
Check your bumps for lumps with CoppaFeels! tips below...
