With Movember in full swing, a Northumbrian Water employee is doing his most to raise money for the men’s health charity, together with Northumbria University students.
Elias Carroll, 22, first joined the water company last year on an industry placement from Northumbria University. He now works in the wastewater team as an Operations Support Assistant, alongside his studies in the final year of a Business Management degree.
This month, Elias, who is living in Newcastle but originally from Burnley, has gone beyond growing the moustache famously associated with the Movember initiative, to spearheading the university’s fundraising campaign with a series of hair-raising events.
Together with the support of different Northumbria Sports Clubs, his efforts have already raised £10,000 for Movember, an annual event which supports suicide prevention, mental health, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
One of his challenges was a gruelling 60km run, running 5km every hour for 12 hours, to represent the 60 men who take their own lives every hour worldwide. More than 150 students joined in the challenge last weekend, with 20 completing the full distance.
Elias is also planning other fundraising events throughout November, including hosting a pub quiz, taking an icy plunge at Tynemouth and leading a 12-hour bike ride with every sports team at the university. He plans to celebrate the incredible efforts of the university with a 350-person Black Tie Movember Awards night at the end of the month.
Speaking about why it matters so much to him, Elias said: “Men’s mental health has always been such an important cause in my eyes. I struggled when I was very young but reached out at 17, and now I’m mentally thriving and want to help others.
“Three out of four suicides are male, and one man takes his own life every minute. Mental health is the biggest killer of young men in the UK, and I want to make conversations about feelings casual, so mates and families can talk openly and not bottle things up. No one should have to go through it alone.
“I’m really excited to be planning these events which bring people together in such a positive way and I’d like to say a big thank you to Oliver Scanlan, the Vice-President of Northumbria Sport. We’ve worked very closely together, and I couldn’t have done it without his support.”
Helen Smith, Early Years Careers Specialist at Northumbrian Water said: “We are absolutely delighted by Elias’ incredible fundraising efforts. Supporting men’s mental health and wellbeing is a key priority for us at Northumbrian Water. Elias has truly thrived since joining our industry placement programme last year and we couldn’t be prouder of his growth and the positive impact he is making.”
To support his efforts, visit https://uk.movember.com/mospace/15205253?mc=1&utm_medium=share&utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=copy-clipboard or follow @movember_northumbria on Instagram.