SANE- A Mental Health Charity

In my opinion, getting involved in charities is a wonderful way to help improve the lives of others. One of my personal goals is to become more involved in charities, especially those related to mental health. I hope that this post is in some way useful, and even if you do not suffer from any of the issues mentioned, I think it's still important to be informed about charities such as this one. 

As I've stated before in my Lets Talk About Mental Health post, mental health is a topic I feel very passionate about. In that post I mentioned many organisations that help specific issues so please check that out if you think you will be affected by it. I spent a great amount of time researching different organisations before coming across SANE. I really support what they stand for so please continue reading to find out more (another well known organisation is Mind, however I will only focus on SANE in this post).

*Disclaimer* I am in no way affiliated to this organisation; all opinions are my own and information was gathered from their website. 

SANE was established in 1986 to improve the quality of life for people suffering from or affected by mental illness. SANE has three main objectives:

1. To raise awareness and combat stigma about mental illness, educating and campaigning to improve mental health services.
2. To provide care and emotional support for people with mental health problems, their families and carers, as well as information for other organisations and the public.
3. To initiate research into the causes and treatments of serious mental illness such as schizophrenia and depression and the psychological and social impact of mental illness.

Sane also offers emotional support in the forms of:

• Helpline- 0300 304 7000 that is available from 6pm-11pm every evening
• Textcare- This allows you to arrange support in the form of text messages that are right for you
• Support Forum- Open 24 hours a day and allows you to give and receive support by sharing experiences
• Blogs: Share your experiences, thoughts and opinions and invite others to share their thoughts

Another feature of SANE that I really like is the Black Dog Campaign. This campaign aims to reduce stigma around mental health issues and help those suffering to seek help. Also, the Black Dog Tribe is a social network campaign dedicated to mental health. You can follow it on Facebook and Twitter. It's aims are to:

• Reduce stigma, prejudice and exclusion
• Encourage more people to seek help
• Educate members of the public - #StopStigma
• Take mental health into schools, colleges and the workplace
• Change perceptions of mental illness
• Demonstrate the importance of research 
• Involve young people in mental health
• Change attitudes of future generations

If you like the idea of helping this charity, there are a number of ways in which you can get involved including (sorry for the number of bullet points in this post):

• Donating- £25 can provide someone with the first 30 minutes of personal and emotional support. £50 provides four people with a call from a mental health professional, providing them with consistent care during a time of despair. 
• Fundraising- Help raise money for this organisation and cause. Download the SANE fundraising pack to get started! 
• Sane Community- A free way to show support for mental health.  
• Volunteer- If you are enthusiastic and wish to contribute to this cause you can check out the range of volunteering roles. 
• #StopStigma- By donating £5 to this charity you can receive a #StopStigma wristband
• Campaign With SANE- Share your story on a media platform by becoming a media volunteer
• Your Stories- Share your experiences with mental health and show others that they're not alone
• Blog- Share your blogs about sane and mental health and check out other's too

Thank you for reading this post, the song of the day is Demons By Imagine Dragons. If you suffer from any of the issues mentioned (I truly hope you don't) I hope SANE is able to help you in some way. And again, if you feel like you have no one to talk to, I'm always here to listen and feel free to message me :) xxx