Welcome to our final day of posting submissions to our zine. This page gives me the opportunity to express my thanks for our fundraiser, Laura Thompson, the most inspiring and beautiful person!

Laura ran half a marathon in the Sheffield Round run recently, and raised an enormous £250 to help towards printing the zine. I have never been so touched or speechless at someones raw power and kindness.

I’m getting to know that it’s not just this single act of kindness that we love her for, but for countless. It seems the more I talk about her the more others seem to know her and know how much of a wonderful being she is!

So please read her words below, and buy physical copy of the zine here. If you would like to buy a physical copy our zine click here: You’ll be helping the zine get distributed and also helping us print the next issue (DoS 2017!) http://designingoutsuicide.bigcartel.com/product/designing-out-suicide-issue-2

Laura and her fiancé are working on a zine themselves, full of vegan delights, check out out here! https://www.instagram.com/pigoutzine/

Here is what Laura wrote for us –Laura, like a lot of our contributors, was a little conflicted with idea of the creative side of the zine – but hopefully, people will follow Laura’s lead and take to something that works for them. She has inspired us to trust in own methods of self help, and to persevere with courageous and positive actions. Love this girl!

I have battled with mental health problems for eight years, and for the first three years I had no what was happening to me. In that time, I’ve gone from a victim in denial to an ashamed failure, a survivor, back down again and now I finally feel I can talk freely about my experiences. I have tried medication and meditation, green tea, positive list-making and everything in between. But one thing I have learnt is that we can do everything in our power to prevent the wave coming over us again, and sometimes it still breaks through. We just have to ride it. (I say ‘just’ like it’s an easy feat.)

There are always people suffering, everywhere we go, and the best thing we can do is provide as much support as possible. I think one of the best ways of doing this is to support grass-roots projects which can help people at a local level, projects we can get involved with ourselves and create a network of people who have been through, or are tackling, similar experiences.

My newest trial in the prevention of depression and anxiety is running. I’ve been running a couple times a week for six months now, and whether it’s actually working or not, it’s helping me to keep a routine. When I’m angry or anxious, I can go and it feels like I’m running away. I can sometimes shake the feeling out of my body by pushing it so hard I can’t feel anything other than the adrenalin and exhaustion. Other days, when I’m feeling positive it helps me to feel free, less locked down by brick walls and responsibilities. I’ve met dozens of people who have found a similar relief in running too.

So when I signed up to my first race this June, I found out about Designing out Suicide and thought it was the perfect project to fundraise for. It felt so much more meaningful for me to raise money for a small mental health project which works out of its own pocket, runs workshops and creates a zine with no support, just with the help of the community it benefits. I think that’s pretty incredible. Without a look in from government funds or charity grants, DoS could receive a considerable amount to help them continue the project and help more people like me.
– Laura Thompson.