Kate Appleby

I'm Kate, a 29 year old civil servant living in the Lakes. I'm a climber, hiker, mountaineer, trail hiker, wild swimming, wild camping and paddle board enthusiast!

When I was 9 years old, I witnessed my dad try to take his own life, something he repeated another twice in my childhood. I experienced sustained physical and sexual abuse, and left home at an early age. Subsequently, I developed lupus, an incurable autoimmune disease which has left me with a number of other illnesses.

I have spend the last 10 years, using the outdoors as a method of therapy, and have gone on to be am advocate for both the importance of the outdoors for your mental wellbeing, but also about the importance of their being representation for visibly and invisibly disabled people in the outdoors.

I have used my experiences to become a motivational speaker, as well as working with brands to widen their representation of sick and disabled people.