Medical Negligence Specialist, Sarah Coles Is Joining The Leeds Mind Team

A team of Leeds runners made up of Sarah Coles a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell and members of the independent charity Leeds Mind, are running the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon on 23 April to help raise awareness of the marathon’s Charity of the Year, Heads Together.

Heads Together is a mental health campaign led by The Royal Foundation in partnership with eight other charities, including Mind. The aim of the campaign is to challenge mental health stigma and change the national conversation on mental wellbeing.

Sarah, 44, is a partner at national law firm Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office specialising in medical negligence. She is joining a team from Leeds Mind, which was the Leeds office’s charity of the year last year, along with more than 30,000 runners to take part in the 26.2 marathon through the streets of London.

Leeds Mind supports people with mental health difficulties, providing supportive services, ranging from employment support to housing services, and activities throughout the Leeds area.

The team from Leeds Mind is made up of ten runners, including Sarah, and they aim to raise a combined £20,000, all of which will benefit the people who use the services at Leeds Mind. Other runners in the team include Paul Croston, Lisa Jakimciw, Cat Bailey, Jennifer Healey, Jonathan Rush, Luke Rushworth, Emily Jayes, Karen Pearse and Paul Hancock. 

Sarah, said: 

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“I am incredibly excited and nervous to not only take part in such a great event, but to also raise awareness for a very important subject. It is important that, as a society, we normalise mental health, reducing the stigma attached to it, so people feel like they are safe to say when they need help.

“My nephew, Blythe, took his own life at age 22 as a result of suffering from depression and I want to raise awareness to stop others suffering the pain he suffered and the pain my family and I suffer on a daily basis. Leeds Mind have been a great support to me and others in this position.

“The training for the event has not been easy and it has been very challenging for someone new to running. At times, it is only my commitment to raising awareness of this issue and to make my nephew proud of me, that is getting me into my running shoes when it is dark, wet and cold outside. I hope people are able to support us by visiting one of the team’s donation pages and giving what they can.” Sarah Coles - Partner

Gemma Green, Fundraising officer at Leeds Mind, said: “We receive fantastic support from Irwin Mitchell, in particular being their Leeds office’s charity of the year last year, so we are naturally delighted to have Sarah join our team for the London Marathon.

“At Leeds Mind our aim is to help people build on their strengths, overcome obstacles and become more in control of their lives and we rely on the generous donations of the public to carry out this service. Without these donations, we wouldn’t be able to continue our important work and provide assistance to those who need it most.”

To find out more about Leeds Mind, visit www.leedsmind.org.uk. To show your support to Sarah, simply visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/SarahColes3 or for the team http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/Leedsmindrunners and donate.