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One in four adults experience mental illness, and many more of us know and care for people who do. Talking openly about how we feel can help.

This is where the Medicine Ball Challenge comes in….

Created by a serving soldier and former officer who have seen their families and friends struggle with mental health, the Medicine Ball Challenge is about starting conversations - encouraging people to speak freely about mental health while undertaking the 7 day challenge.

The challenge involves cuffing a 3kg Medicine Ball to your wrist for 7 days. It may not sound that heavy but being chained to the medicine ball continuously for seven days is a significant burden. The ball becomes a physical, visual and tangible representation of the invisible burden of mental health so many of us can experience.

The aim of the Medicine Ball Challenge is to raise awareness and encourage people to talk openly. It's about creating powerful conversations. Taking part in this challenge could be transformative and will definitely help the Army Benevolent Fund and Combat Stress to support those in difficulty.

How does the challenge work?

Currently, there are only 11 Medicine Balls in circulation so when you sign up, you may join a waiting list. We are encouraging participants to meet up in person to handover the medicine ball once your 7 day challenge is over (subject to COVID-19 Government guidance). This offers a great opportunity to start the conversations about mental health straight away and allows you to share some top tips for being cuffed to the medicine ball to the next participant.

We have split the UK into 11 teams to make it as easy as possible to meet up to collect the medicine ball when you start the challenge and hand it over at the end of your 7 day challenge. When signing up to the challenge, we ask that you agree to travel up to an hour each way to collect and then handover the medicine ball. We also ask that you agree to your contact details being shared with the next participant so you can arrange meeting up. If you really can't meet up, just get in touch in touch and we can send you postage.

Once you recieve the medicine ball, simply cuff it to your wrist and off you go. We recommend wearing a sweat band or something similar underneath the cuff to prevent it rubbing. The idea is to keep the medicine ball cuffed to your wrist for the whole 7 days (apart from sleeping, showering, driving and any other activity that may be be dangerous).

Have a read through the rest of the site to find out more but if you have any questions, please email MBC@armybenevolentfund.org