My name is Alexandra, and I am embarking on an 8000 km solo bike trip around the Baltic Sea. Starting on April 10th in Rostock (Germany), I will cycle along the coast of Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland until I return to Germany. Along this beautiful, long, and at times probably challenging adventure I would like to raise 1€ for each kilometer, so 8000€ in total, for Mental Health Charities. I am planning to match these donations up to 8000€, so hopefully we can raise 16.000€ together.

Those who know me know I have been a passionate mental health advocate for the past few years. Having studied psychology as my undergraduate degree and simultaneously facing my own challenges with depression, I became acutely aware of how limited the access to proper care and support is all over the world and how little research and investment there is into finding effective large-scale solutions to face the mental health epidemic.

To contribute further to advancing solutions, I would like to support the following organizations:

1. Strong Minds

StrongMinds provides free, group talk therapy to low-income women and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. It scales its reach through peer-to-peer therapy, public education, and partnerships — treating tens of thousands of individuals each year. Those who complete StrongMinds therapy have achieved clinically significant reductions in depression symptoms. More than 80% of clients are depression-free at the conclusion of treatment.

2. Happier Lives Institute

The Happier Lives Institute is a nonprofit research organisation searching for the most effective ways to measure and increase global wellbeing. They do foundational research on the nature and measurement of wellbeing and applied research to synthesize the existing data on subjective wellbeing to discover which interventions and policies will have the biggest impact on global wellbeing.

If one speaks to you more than the other, you can choose your own weighting using the ‘Edit Allocation’ button after clicking ‘Donate’.

You can follow my journey, and find out more about the causes, and why I have chosen them on my instagram page @myrucksackdiaries. If you choose to support me, feel free to send me a message, I would love to thank you personally and share the joy of doing good!

Yours, Alexandra

P.S. If you are living in Germany, you can donate through the German
organisation Effektiv Spenden and receive a donation receipt
(Verwendungszweck: EinmalUmDieOstsee).
https://effektiv-spenden.org/spenden-effektiver-altruismus/