As we rapidly approach what scientists have named ‘the most depressing day of the year’ on the 17th January, the team at HugoFox.com have been viewing the expression a little differently after the website’s founder recently paid tribute to the work done by local mental health charity, the Charlie Waller Trust. 

For many people, Christmas couldn’t be further from ‘the most wonderful time of the year’, and with January blues accompanying dark, wet and windy nights, it’s no wonder that many people feel more than a little down around this time. For those suffering with mental illness, all the expectations of cheer and goodwill at Christmas can exacerbate feelings of stress and anxiety, with calls to helplines shooting up over the festive period.

The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust has been established to help those individuals who are battling with debilitating mental health issues, such as depression.

Charlie Waller was a 28 year-old successful advertising executive with a loving family and lots of friends when he died. He took his own life after battling with depression. They say that we shouldn’t talk about politics or religion but there’s a greater taboo that’s still being perpetuated within our society; that of mental health. Charlie is among some 1760 young men who commit suicide every year, and it remains the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 35.

There were five hundred people at Charlie’s funeral, all wanting to remember him and his life, and this was why friends and family stepped in to create the Charlie Waller Memorial Fund. Through hard work and dedication, the Trust has developed into a campaigning organisation to help everyone, men and women alike, who suffers with depression. Its aim is to deliver free depression training to GPs along with their staff and to members of the public, and the charity also operates in schools alongside NHS nurses, teachers and students.

The Charlie Waller Institute, based at the University of Reading, is where psychological therapists are trained. The work they’re involved in will help to find more effective psychological therapies for treating people with depression. Another important part of the Trust’s work has been the establishment of a website to help students with mental health issues: a ‘self-help’ oriented, online community has been set up at www.studentdepression.org,  for anyone who’s in full and higher education to help them cope with their depression and to focus on their studies.

The ongoing battle is to remove the stigma that’s still attached to depression and suicide, and to promote mental well-being. The Trust is working hard to promote the importance of recognising the warning signs that someone close to you is suffering from depression.

Last autumn, the Trust staged the 2nd Charlie Waller Garden Party. Richard and Zoe Benyon kindly opened Englefield House in Berkshire to 750 parents and children and transformed the gardens into a magical playground. It was a day filled with fun and games, carousels, magicians and bouncy castles, and the event raised thousands of pounds towards the fight against depression and helped raise awareness of the work that was going on behind closed doors.

HugoFox.com are proud to support such a worthwhile cause and is keen to continue promoting the great work that it does, both now and in the future. There are committed fundraisers who are continuing to give their time on a voluntary basis, to make sure that the suicide from depression rate starts to fall and along with it, our embarrassment and unwillingness to talk about mental health.

If you would like more information about the work of The Charlie Waller Memorial Trust then please go to http://www.cwmt.org.uk/aboutus/.