New mental health charity inspired by veteran

Christyann Thomas started the charity after the death of her father Stephen Kerry-Jones

A woman whose father struggled with mental health problems and alcoholism has launched a new charity in his honour.

Christyann Thomas and her husband Ed created Heads Up Bedale, an organisation that aims to support people's mental health in North Yorkshire with activities such as wild swimming and group walks.

Mrs Thomas said she was inspired to help people by her father, Stephen Kerry-Jones, an army veteran who died from problems related to alcoholism at the age of 57.

"There is a real need. We're focussing on men's and veterans' mental health but we don't exclude anybody," she said.

Mrs Thomas said that when her dad joined the army in 1982 he experienced a "culture" of drinking in some parts of the armed forces.

"It was something he fell into, unfortunately, quite quickly," she said.

"He was 16 when he joined [the Army].

"He ended up with complex PTSD after he left."

Stephen Kerry-Jones served overseas with the Army in the 1980s

Mrs Thomas said her father went on to work in the police and as a foster carer, but that the "alcohol always stuck with him".

"His mental health deteriorated as the alcohol progressed and he ended up passing away because of the alcohol," she said.

"I have three brothers, we tried to get him to make better choices, but it was his choice and he wasn't ready to make it for himself."

Ed and Christyann Thomas said they hoped to stop the stigma about mental health problems

Mrs Thomas said she believed men approached mental health problems differently to women.

"There is a real need," she said.

"Men seem to feel they can't be vulnerable because it's not manly.

"We want to help people understand it's OK to be vulnerable and to open up."

Her husband has also experienced mental health problems and said it had taken him years "to realise it's OK not to be OK and that talking helps massively".

"I want other men who are struggling on a daily basis to come forward, utilise the charity to their own needs and stop the stigma surrounding mental health."

The charity's first session will be held at the town's Riverside Club later and a walking event is scheduled to take place on Sunday at Codbeck Reservoir.

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