Self-kindness coach launches 24-hour live broadcast in aid of Mind during Mental Health Awareness Week

A Twickenham-based former HR director who now works as a self-kindness coach is set to broadcast live for 24 hours in aid of Mind during UK Mental Health Awareness Week, bringing together leading authors and well-being experts to explore how kindness can transform mental wellbeing and workplace culture.

Kim Stokes, 44, founder of Kindness for Success, will host #24forKindness on 11-12 May, almost doubling the length of her 2024 15-hour livestream, which raised £2,000 for Mind.

This year’s event will feature a line-up of respected authors and experts, including:

Gifty Enright, Women’s Leadership Coach and author of Octopus on a Treadmill

Anita Cleare, parenting expert and author of The Work/Parent Switch

Graham Allcott, founder of Think Productive and author of KIND

Julie Smith, leadership coach and author of Coach Yourself Confident

Zoe Blaskey, author and host of the hit podcast, Motherkind

Nicky Denson-Elliott, professional feminist, writer and host of the award-winning podcast Women’s Business

Lynn Blades, founder of Legacy Leadership, an executive coaching consultancy for a diverse and inclusive 21st-century workforce.

Over 24 hours, the event will explore:

How self-kindness can move beyond awareness into practical daily habits

The difference between self-kindness and self-care

How self-kindness will improve your life.

Kim’s journey into mental health advocacy began after experiencing burnout in a senior corporate leadership role. 

Kim told That's Health: “I had climbed the ladder. On paper, I was successful. But I was exhausted, anxious, and at the bottom of my own priority list,” she says. “I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognise the woman staring back at me. I’d lost a stone because I wasn’t eating, and I was permanently exhausted. Self-kindness wasn’t something I practised, it was something I thought I’d ‘earn’ once everything else was done.”

After being made redundant, Kim took time to reflect and retrain, completing a Transformative Life Coaching Diploma and launching Kindness for Success to support overwhelmed working mothers before they reach crisis point.

“I work predominantly with women who are giving everything to everyone else,” she explains. “We can’t be kind to others sustainably if we’re not kind to ourselves.”

This year, Kim is building partnerships to amplify impact, hoping to extend fundraising beyond last year’s £2,000 target.

“Mental health still carries stigma,” she says. “We talk openly about physical health, but mental well-being needs the same everyday attention. Self-kindness is not all bubble baths and spa days - it’s boundaries, rest, honest self-talk and redefining success on your own terms. It’s not about having it all, it’s flipping it to defining and living YOUR all.”

The livestream will run from 11-12 May as part of Mental Health Awareness Week. Kim will broadcast from 6 am - midnight on May 11th and then 8 am - 2 pm on May 12th. You can register here. https://tilt.fyi/x7Tm6kThRo

Kim Stokes is is being mentored by entrepreneur Simon Squibb and recently won £1,000 after pitching at his doorbell of dreams in Twickenham.