We encourage people to use physical activity to improve their wellbeing. Registered Charity Number 1194467 Red Balloons was born in 2017 as originally a blog about our Founder Claire's two greatest passions, mental health and fitness. It was somewhere she could make sense of what was going on in her head, be honest about herself and her life, post her achievements, goals, aims and desires. She had started volunteering with Mind around the same time and from their help an idea was born. Exercise pretty much saved her life, in more ways than one. When she felt the world would be better off without her, it was exercise, running more accurately at the time, that saved her. It was a coping technique, a management tool that she could use to boost her mood and confidence. Red Balloons is about peer support. Everyone involved with the Charity has lived experience of poor mental health and difficult times. We use this to offer a safe, non-judgemental space where people can talk about how they feel. Where we can we combine this with physical activity so people can use this to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. We host Lived Experience Forums to ensure lived experience voices are heard within service design, redesign and delivery around mental health. We host Tees Valley Peer Support Network, supporting peers and peer led organisations, raising awareness of peer support across the region and funding more peer support services.
