Turning round a troubled young life

She'd had a troubled childhood. At the age of three she was taken into care away from her family. She tried to settle down with several different care homes and foster families.

But at the age of 12 things got too much for Claire. This was the first time that she attempted to commit suicide. She was living with relatives at the time and if they hadn't found her when they did she would not have lived to tell her story today.

Claire, now 28 and with two children of her own, has suffered with depression almost all of her life.

"Some people say you remember very little from your childhood but I remember every intricate detail," explains Claire, from Leeds.

"I used to find it so incredibly frustrating as a child and teenager when I tried to express that I was feeling down. People would forever say to me, 'You're only young, what can you possibly feel down about? You have your whole life ahead of you.' I felt like no-one ever really wanted to listen and that only ever made things worse."

At the age of 14, Claire was excluded from school for drinking and drug misuse. She felt as though she was stuck in a vicious cycle. She carried on in different care homes until the age of 18 when she decided to move in with her boyfriend. Things seemed perfect at first and she was very happy when she got the news that she was pregnant. Things at home began to deteriorate and she had no option but to leave.

However, Claire has managed to get her life back on track. Since May this year she has been volunteering with Time to Change Leeds

Time to Change is the nation's biggest campaign to challenge the stigma around mental health. In Leeds there is a group of volunteers which have been brought together by Leeds Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Leeds, to raise the profile of the campaign locally.

In the short time that she has spent as part of the volunteering team in Leeds, Claire has developed her self- confidence considerably.

Claire says that there are lots of dark moments from her past that have made her who she is today.

In the past her mental health and the stigma surrounding her illness has held her back in lots of situations. But now she uses her experiences to help raise awareness around mental health working as a volunteer for Time to Change in Leeds.

She still has bouts of depression from time to time but the volunteering really helps with her mental health. "Volunteering gives me a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It gets me away from things in my personal life and allows me to concentrate my efforts on different activities.

"Every day is different. A large part of what we do is out in the community at different events raising awareness and asking for pledges. At the moment we are working on a gigantic tepee utilising pledges taken from different events.

"We are sewing each of the pledges on individually. It has taken such a long time to complete just one panel of the tepee. It really is great fun though. Volunteering really does give me a focus and there is always something for me to do."

One in four of us at some point in our lives will experience mental ill-health. Yet still the stigma surrounding mental health is immense. When asked what advice she would offer to someone struggling in silence with a mental health problem, Claire said: "You don't have to go through it on your own. Don't be afraid to say 'I need help'. There is so much help available to people now. There are lots of organisations and people that are available to help you or even just to talk."

Claire is also helped by her love of art and recently had her own work put on show.

For more information on Time for Change go to www.leedspft.nhs.uk