Jessi Mynott-Rudland

Why I'm doing the 20 hour challenge again!

Hey there!

What I’m going to do starting now:

1.     Stop drinking

2.    Stop smoking

3.    Start posting 1 blog a week  

What I’ll do when I reach milestones?
TBC - I'll blog about it. 

Thank you again for spending a few minutes to read this, and yet a few more by choosing contribute to the fundraising!

$5k will put 25 young people through a one-day Mental Health Maintenance course with 20Talk, which I'll be doing in a few weeks!

When I was offered to do the fundraising challenge for 20-hours with 20Talk last year, it was late and I had just 1 month to raise $1,000 in donations for me to go.

The challenge was two-fold.

1.     Be vulnerable and share a bit of myself to promote a good cause.

2.    Have a go at something I’d never done before.

Plus, it was my birthday the very next day of the challenge, on the 7^th and the idea of spending 20 hours inside a 2x2sqm space, silently reflecting and taking space for myself, surrounded by others doing the same, sounded like a bit of a treat.
Not dissimilar to back in ’12 when I took myself into the hills of Bali for 3 days, to participate in a silent retreat. ADHD rationalises things in strange ways.

In the end we reached $1k before December.
Ultimately landing at $1,876.30 by the 6/12/25.

I’d love to smash that number out the park this year.
I’ll need your help!

But why again???!

Suicide, recovery, mental health first aide, therapy, preventative and therapeutic treatments are all familiar to ground me. It’s hard for others though.

Since I started my journey in 2019 to battle depression, keep myself healthy and strong of mind, I’ve lost friends.

My friends have lost friends too.
One this year.

Sometimes I think of life(death) as though it’s the tide, the ebb and flow of feelings. The water, our life force and will to live, to survive. We’re all born with this water, but it must be taken care of. Babies can’t handle a precious vessel of water.
An idealistic world looks like loving guidance and responsiveness from of our primary cares, family, friends, loved ones and the greater community, so that we learn how to survive (take care of ourselves) and contribute and give back to community so that those around us can too.

There comes a time when we grow up and bear the responsibility of our self(s). It’s healthy to hold and take care the part of us that needs bit of tender love, and care.
It’s also healthy to know when you can’t do that. Humans survive because we’re good at helping each other.

Just like cars breakdown, boat hulls break, and so to do we humans.

Broken bones etc.
It’s just on the inside with things like depression, anxiety.

Cars have mechanics. Bones have doctors. Feelings and mental health have therapists.

I’m grateful that from the age 18 I had the wherewithal to go to seek therapy. I’ve always tried my my best, doing the work to ride things out on the tide, learning new tools, approaching things curiously to gain perspective. Not with out challenge.

I hit my lowest and closest in August 2024. After being talked down from the roof top terrace with waist-high rails of my apartment, I admitted myself to the hospital ED. Since then I’ve had and done even more work. But in retrospect, I believe that everything I’d done to reinforce and build myself up, ensured I had that little bit of life(water), to keep me going, and ride things out. I’m lucky though.

The WHO predicts depression will be world’s leading disease by 2030. To top this off, here in Australia 80% of the population is supported by 2% of mental health prevention funding. (MHC, 2021)

Access and relatability are key. Researchers know the how to foster positive wellbeing but are failing educate young people in a way they can relate to and understand.

20Talk provides scalable, prevention focused solutions, that integrates relatable mental health tools into the lives of young people. They do this 2 ways;

1.     Online Education

2.     Physical Training

Like anything in the world, spending time, developing resources and delivering them comes at a price.

$200 - Puts a young adult (18-30) through a one-day Mental Health Maintenance course.

This training provides young adults practical tools and skills to tackle life’s challenges.

$1,000 - Helps us reach 80,000 people online with one of our targeted social media ad campaigns. This gets young people curious about exploring our more comprehensive education.

$120 - Purchases a physical 20Talk banner that has a positive reflection reminder on it. This banner will be installed on a fence with high car and pedestrian traffic.

I think this one is worth paying… Lord knows how much I’ve spent over the years on professional help.

So. Commitments and tangibles.

What I’m going to do starting now, is:

1.     Stop drinking

2.     Stop smoking

3.     Start writing and posting 1 story/blog a week about some vulnerable stuff because the best things are.

What I’ll do when I reach the goal… I don’t know. Continue with the above. Lots of thank yous.

Thank you again for spending a few minutes to read this, and yet a few by choosing to make a donate so that we can go get $5,000!
Enough to put 25 young people through a one-day Mental Health Maintenance course with 20Talk.

Love you,

Jess
Photo: Shark Bay, Koh Tao - High Tide, Full Moon

(last year's post) 20 Hours of Silence for Youth Mental Health.

I’m taking on the 20 Hours for 20Talk Challenge which will see me sitting in a 2×2 metre square in a warehouse, alongside 400 other participants, with no talking and no technology for 20 hours. All I’ll have are the essentials I bring with me: a chair, sleeping mat, journal, water, and food. No distractions.