Newbury woman raises more than £1,000 for Time to Talk West Berkshire with head shave

"I have always wanted to shave it off but never had the guts"

A Newbury woman has raised more than £1,000 for mental health charity Time to Talk West Berkshire by having her hair shaved off.

Thirty-seven-year-old Louise Barham, who works at Vodafone's headquarters in Newbury, got her long locks chopped on February 27.

She said: "My lockdown hair had become out of control and a nuisance.

"I have always wanted to shave it off but never had the guts.

"So, with lockdown, I thought what better time to take the plunge and try and raise some money for an extremely worthy cause at the same time?

"I'm a 37-year-old woman, who has suffered for many years with my own mental health since my teens with depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicide attempts.

"Twenty years ago, there really was no help available to me unless I was willing to wait for weeks on a waiting list – by that point it felt too late.

"The longer I went untreated, the worse I felt about myself and how I was ever going to feel better.

"I felt a burden, that because there was nothing physically wrong, I wouldn't be taken seriously and that it was 'all in my head'.

"The scars I have 20 years later are a sad reminder of how lost I was and how much pain I must have been in back then.

"Thankfully, it isn't quite as bad as that today and I am able to express how I feel verbally.

"I still suffer with anxiety on a daily basis, but I have started treatment by talking honestly and openly about how I feel and try to take every day as it comes.

"I've trained as a mental health first aider and to see that the Time to Talk service is available to young people when it's needed the most is remarkable.

"When I was looking for a charity to benefit from my head shave, one of my neighbours recommended Time to Talk.

"I'd never heard of them before but I'm so glad I have now.

"I wish there had been a service like Time to Talk when I was younger.

"They are a fantastic charity who do amazing things.

"It's great to see the stigma be slowly lifted on mental health issues and see that help is much more readily available."

Whatever Ms Barham raises will be match-funded by Vodafone.

If you would like to make a donation and add to Ms Barham's fundraising total, visit her GoFundMe page.