Mum's 'Three Peaks Challenge' to raise money for Macclesfield perinatal mental health charity
By Alex Greensmith
9th Sep 2024 | Local News
An employee of a Macclesfield charity is to scale a trio of mountains for her employer.
Caroline Staton, from Leek, is employed by perinatal mental health charity Smile Group.
Smile Group, which was co-founded in 2011 by Macclesfield resident Natalie Nuttall, offer support to parents living with postnatal depression.
They offer support in Macclesfield, and three other Cheshire East towns.
The charity has recently come across funding challengers, and had to make some cuts to services.
However, Caroline has decided to take on the 'Three Peaks Challenge', to raise money for Smile Group.
The Three Peaks Challenge incorporates the three highest mountains of Scotland - Ben Nevis at 1345m, England - Scafell at 978m and Wales - Yr Wydffa (Snowdon) at 1085m.
Caroline is aiming to complete it in a weekend. She wants to fundraise £750.
As of publication, she was fundraised £347, with 17 people having donated.
"Thank you to all those who donate," said Caroline.
"As a Wellbeing Practitioner at Smile I support our service delivery by facilitating our four peer support groups - one of which is at Ash Grove Family Hub in Macclesfield, as well as providing 1-1 support and home visits for parents who are unable to leave their houses.
"I feel really passionate about raising awareness of the vital services Smile offers to parents in the perinatal window. This is an exciting challenge and I'm looking forward to pushing myself physically and mentally to fundraise for something that is so close to my heart."
Caroline will be taking on the challenge with 11 other people.
"We will arrive in Scotland on Friday October 11, to complete Ben Nevis on Saturday morning," she explained.
"Then we will travel to England and stay over night up early on Sunday morning to complete Scarfell, once completed back in the mini bus to travel to Wales and complete Sunday evening before coming home."
Natalie Nuttall is a colleague of Caroline, and co-founder of Smile Group. Here is what Natalie had to say about the altruistic Smile Group wellbeing practitioner.
"Caroline Staton has been with us for over a year," said Natalie.
"She helps to deliver the face to face services and groups and one to one support, across Macclesfield, Congleton, Crewe, Sandbach.
"The funding will go towards the core delivery of our service, in ensuring we are able to reach full parents across our patches experiencing perinatal mental health challenges.
"Caroline is an excellent ambassador for Smile [Group]. She is hugely talented and skilled, and it is amazing she is going above and beyond - literally - to take on this challenge to generate more funding and awareness."
According to NHS England, one in every five women experience perinatal mental health challenges. It can also affect fathers and partners. And there can also be other perinatal mental health challenges.
Smile Group's sessions are free to attend, and there is no pressure to attend regularly.
To keep things approachable and welcoming, you don't need to book. Just drop from 10am to 12pm.
Macclesfield's sessions are held on a Friday at Ash Grove Family Hub. Additional services are in Crewe on a Monday, Sandnach on a Tuesday and Congleton on a Wednesday.
"In the last 12 months we have had 305 new and existing people use the service with 280 referrals and 2,430 points of contact," revealed Natalie.
"111 of those (305) have come from Macclesfield and Bollington. 26 of these have been dads."
Macclesfield: To donate to Caroline's crowdfunder, please click HERE.
To launch your own fundraiser for Smile Group, please find contact details on their website.
A testimonial at Smile Group from an anonymous mum in Macclesfield who benefits from their services, can be found below.
"Being able to trust someone else to hold your sleeping 8-week-old baby while you take a moment to enjoy a hot or cold drink and feel yourself able to breathe for a minute is something you don't realise how much you need until it happens."
"Smile was the first thing I was able to get out of the house for and do with my baby. Even if it's just to sit and stare into space for a while, it's still a big achievement at that stage. It's been a safe space, a sense of routine and a shoulder for me."
Macclesfield: Once again, you can donate to Caroline's fundraiser HERE.
*Image Credit (Image - CC 2.0 Generic Hefin Owen from Wales Unchanged https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheep_in_snowdonia_(50094926093).jpg / https://www.flickr.com/people/47515486@N05 / https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en)
^Image Credit - CC 4.0 Doug Sim / Unchanged / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scafell_massif.jpg)
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