A charity supporting people with autoimmune arthritis is raising money to fund free counselling sessions for people affected by a diagnosis.

Throughout this month, Without Wings: The Manx Autoimmune Arthritis Trust is running a #BeKind2023 community challenge to raise the funds.

Autoimmune arthritis affects, amongst other systems in the body, the joints and therefore mobility.

The challenge is in line with the charity’s 2023 theme, which is kindness, as well as in response to a rebooting of its counselling service as it welcomes new counsellor Sarah Whitehead from Kind Counselling.

Founder and chair of the charity Jackie Morrey-Grace said: ‘When Without Wings was established in 2016, its goals were three-fold: to raise awareness of these complex and often misunderstood conditions, as well as to provide positive information and compassionate funding for essential support services.

‘Providing professional counselling as part of this was always top of our agenda, so we’re truly excited to welcome Sarah into the fold.

‘She has a huge heart and masses of experience, so we know we’re placing the service in the safest of hands.

‘The charity now needs to promote the initiative, so it reaches the right people, and raise funds to keep it secure.

‘As a small, voluntary organisation this is never easy. However, my daughter, Maeve, recently asked to volunteer for Without Wings as part of her Bronze Duke of Edinburgh.

‘It seemed a brilliant opportunity to do something fun and community-orientated to help raise the charity’s profile and, as she’s the kindest person I know, our March #BeKind2023 challenge was born.’

She says to keep an eye on the charity’s Facebook page (@withoutwingsiom) for people’s challenges.

‘We’ve had some brilliant challenges, from litter picking and baked cake surprising, to easily overlooked but important things like contacting people you’ve lost touch with, hanging out with favourite friends or family you’ve not seen for ages, or writing a spectacular review for a favourite business,’ said Sarah.

‘We’ve also got poets writing rainbow poems for us to hide around Ramsey, and Isle Be Creative have gifted us 31, glass ‘pocket hugs’ to hand out too.

‘As well as all this, the fundraiser has opened the conversation about these illnesses and the hidden struggles many people on our island face every day which is just as important.’

She added: ‘The idea behind the campaign was to therefore highlight the importance of taking small, manageable and free to implement steps each day to help teach us how, through repetition, we can make kindness a habit.

‘Without Wings would love to say a huge thank you to everyone out there who’s supporting us in our efforts! Also, if you’re affected by autoimmune arthritis and would like to make use of our counselling service, get in touch.’

Members of the public can join in the challenges by tagging the charity or using the hashtag #BeKind2023.