Walking and Mental Health

Over the past few years I have noticed a significant increase in the number of people suffering from mental health issues, not only at work but also in my social circles too. Unfortunately I have also seen too many people turning to alcohol and occasionally drugs to cope with their day to day stresses. 

My own coping strategy has always been, and always will be walking, it is my drug, it makes me feel better, without it I am like a bear with a sore head, and I have always returned from a good long walk feeling positive and motivated. Even a bad day on the hills is better than a good day in the office. 

Occasionally in the past I may have spent a day or two sat on the sofa watching uninspiring crap on the telly. But looking back at these lazy days, all the signs were definitely there:- I found myself staring out of the window, pacing around the house, I was short with the kids, shouting at stupid people on the telly, restless, irritable and suffering from my own version of cabin fever. What I desperately needed was a hill, mountain, snow, woods, moorlands, it didn’t really matter where, I just needed to get out and go for a walk. It didn’t take my wife long to recognise the signs and she would often tell me to get my boots on and get out for a walk.

So if walking worked for me, would it work for other people as well, and the answer to that is a resounding yes. A couple of years ago I took a work colleague for a walk in Snowdonia. My colleague was in quite a bad way with his mental health and even had 2 anxiety attacks in the car on the journey to North Wales. However after a nice long walk on the Welsh mountains, he was a different person, he was buzzing, and the first time for a while he seemed positive and he even wanted to know when we could go again. It was a remarkable turnaround in such a short period of time.

I quickly realised that I could use my Mountain Leader qualification not to just make some extra money doing guided walks, but also to help others with their mental health issues. Shortly after this trip to Wales I volunteered with my local council to organise ‘Walking for Health’ walks. The council supplied a free training day on how to be a walk leader, and a month later I was running my own monthly walks at Castle Hill, Huddersfield. These walks have been going now for a couple of years and I have met some fantastic folk, and hopefully helped keep a few demons at bay.

Then Mountain Rescue training took up quite a lot of my spare time, but I still managed to take some of my work colleagues out on the occasional guided walk, including one group around the Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge. In my experience I have found that people away from their office, phone, and family environments are much more likely to open up and talk during a walk. Notably the Y3P group were much more positive after their walk, they bonded better at work, there were more social events away from their workplace, their confidence had grown, and they felt quite good about themselves because they had raised a considerable amount of cash for a local charity. They are now looking for me to plan their next big challenge.

Then more recently, I have joined the ‘Peer Support’ network at work and I have just completed an adult Mental Health First Aid course. This 2 day course has taught me how to identify and recognise mental health and how to help people find the support they need. I am now running a series of monthly welfare walks with staff at work called ‘Walkie Talkies’, and rather worryingly the interest has been overwhelming.

So here I am, a qualified Mountain Leader, with a Mental Health First Aid qualification, and I have found that these two qualifications go hand in hand perfectly. I have also found that by helping others, my own well being has improved.

We all have mental health and just like physical health it needs looking after, my recommendation for anyone feeling the strain at home or work, is to seek help, there are lots of people out there to help you, or you could take my advice and get out and go for a walk, or to join me on one of my stress busting walks. 

Mental Health is out there, it has been a taboo subject for far too long, you can either choose to ignore it, or you can do something to help. I would highly recommend the Mental Health First Aid Course, it has certainly opened my eyes, I am much more careful about the language that I use when discussing mental health issues, and I am also helping to break the stigmas surrounding these matters at work. The main message that I will be sending out, is that there is help available for everyone, and that nobody should be going through any mental health issues alone. For more information visit Mental Health First Aid England https://mhfaengland.org/