Waterlooville man aims to set up his own charity to tackle stigma around mental health

Tom Hill aims to register his business tyveCARE as a charity, with plans to build an app to encourage people to talk about their mental health.

The 25-year-old, from Waterlooville, is raising £5,000 to register with the Charity Commission, and his first event will see him take on a 27-mile walk from Portsmouth to Winchester, where he went to university to study media production.

Tom, who sets off on Saturday and has already raised more than £600, said: ‘I have gone through a few things myself which I think is quite common for people who want to do something for mental health.

‘I feel like this is lighting the fire, I’m hoping this will get me to £1,000 by the end of the walk.’

During the hike, web designer Tom will be talking to mental health experts and psychologists and sharing information from these conversations to help people learn more about mental health.

People will be able to watch videos from the ‘walk and talk’ on tyveCARE social media pages to keep up with how Tom is doing and learn about topics like mental health first aid training.

Following his first fundraising effort, Tom will take on a 24-hour gaming marathon on September 25 where he will stream live on Twitch and hold more discussions about mental health.

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In November, Tom aims to encourage people to join in with filming ‘a day in the life’ to prove mental health issues can affect anyone and show some ways to get help.

Alongside the app, the future for tyveCARE will hopefully include employees and volunteers from the charity visiting schools to talk about mental health.

Tom added: ‘Mental health isn’t a bad word, it’s something we all have. Some manage it well, some not so well.

‘I wanted to do it for myself because I wanted to focus on something in life which is helping others and getting the message out there.’

Visit crowdfunder.co.uk/tyvcare-the-five-thousand to donate or go to tyvecare.com to learn more about tyveCARE.

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