Following a difficult year, with the uncertainty of COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdowns, people’s mental health – particularly across the UK - took a significant blow. Resulting in a 15% increase in urgent and emergency referrals, from March to July 2020, as well as a total of 2,276 more referrals in July alone, compared to the same month in 2019, according to NHS Digital Figures¹. 

As restrictions began to ease in the UK, the Optimised Group decided to set a challenge to their UK-wide staff, to encourage them to exercise for the benefit of their own mental health, with the incentive of raising money for a good cause.

The original challenge, which was to accumulate the distance between the Group’s five UK offices (919 miles) for an initial donation of £1000 to Mind, was smashed within 2 weeks, as the Optimised team racked up 1531 miles.

Calling for the challenge to be toughened, the distance was increased to 6,000 miles, the distance from London to Cape Town, where the Group have had temporary office locations. The incentive? A £2000 donation to Mind.