Nice and simple, nothing more fancy than a stroll across the local common, but enough to make me think… well, maybe it is better out here than in there, in the prison of my own head. From the moment I had my daughter, walking became my salvation.
I would place her in the buggy, or a sling, and set off for great big yomps across south London, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends, but always with the knowledge that outside on my own two feet was better than inside on my bottom feeling miserable. Walking was what I did when I couldn’t do anything else, and I became so passionate about its positive effects on wellbeing that in 2016 I set up Mental Health Mates, a peer support group where people could come together and walk and talk without fear of judgment.
Seven and a half years on, Mental Health Mates is now in almost 150 towns and cities across the country. Its success has absolutely nothing to do with me, and everything to do with the regenerative power of walking in community. Since its inception, I have lost count of the number of Mental Health Mates attendees who have turned up to walks shaking in fear, and gone on to run marathons, take part in triathlons, or cycle across the country (one man, who suffered from bipolar disorder, ended up cycling 5000 miles around the British coast to raise money for Mind).
And this weekend, all of our groups are coming together to create one of the biggest organised walking events the UK has ever seen. On Saturday, at 11am, Mental Health Mates groups across the country will set off to prove the power of walking for your wellbeing. I am hoping that by writing this, at least one person stuck in depression might read it and come along and join us.
Because I firmly believe that walking is the most transformative tool when it comes to mental health. Before you try running, or cold water swimming, or weight lifting, you need to learn how to walk. It is the foundation on which all wonderful well-being is built. It requires very little fitness, absolutely no equipment other than a pair of vaguely functioning feet, and can be done absolutely anywhere in the world.
The act of moving forward is in itself uplifting; to do it side by side with someone, without having to look them directly in the eye, makes conversation so much easier if you happen to have an anxious temperament. I have always said that mental health issues work by isolating you – by making you feel like a freak, by telling you that nobody else feels the way you do. Locked in the hell of your own head, it can feel as if the world has stopped spinning. Stepping outside, if only for a walk around the block, reminds us that at least one of these things isn’t true. And with that realisation comes the beautiful possibility that the other horrific things your head is telling you might be lies, too…
If you are reading this and you can’t see a way out of your head, or your bed, please know that I have been where you are right now. I have been there, unable to imagine a world in which I don’t feel like dying, much less one where I am able to get out of bed each day and perform grimnastics with friends. So please, for me, and all the other people out there who experience mental health issues… think about going for a walk today. Put one foot in front of the other, again and again, and see how you feel. You never know where it might end up taking you.
Where to get help:
• Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906
• Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234
• What’s Up: Call 0800 942 8787 (11am to 11pm) or webchat (11am to 10.30pm)
• Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)
• Helpline: Need to talk? Call or text 1737
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
