This Friday will see an aim of 40 men walking 40km along The Saints Way to raise awareness and funds for Men’s Mental Health
Last year a group walked from Padstow to Newquay and raised £2,700 for men’s mental health. This year they will be walking over 40km in a day from Padstow to Fowey along The Saints Way with the aim to raise £4,000 for InCourage.
InCourage aims to help make a difference to the statistics that suicide is the leading cause of male deaths under the age of 50 in England and Wales and 40% of men have never spoken to anyone about their health.
Director and founder of InCourage, Jacob Adams, commented:
“Every man deserves to have a safe and supportive community to open up about their mental health and wellbeing. Too many men and boys are not speaking about what they are going through, and we want to change this. Activities like this one in Cornwall, are raising awareness not just of the need, but of the local solution that arises when the community comes together.”
Taking part on the walk is Business Cornwall’s, Morveth Ward, who said:
“It is frightening how many men I know, struggle severely with their mental health. This includes those who would seem unlikely: young, fit and successful, yet still struggling.
“However, it is encouraging that many are now speaking-up and feeling fine about speaking-up, which is helping greatly. This is a trajectory we need to continue and hopefully this walk will help in some way to do this.”
The fundraising for InCourage is hoped to deliver a pilot of work to:
- Work intensely with 5 community settings to address men’s wellbeing locally:
1) Workplaces 2) Education 3) Sport 4) Leisure 5) Neighbourhoods - Deliver 23 informing workshops in educational, workplace and sports club settings.
- Run and subsidise five inspiring weekends away for men to co-create local solutions for their community’s
- Train and empower 30 men with relevant qualifications to support their community from within.
- Support these men to access relevant therapy and counselling and learn about the current public mental and physical health systems in this country.
- Form a network of multimedia and ‘in’ person sessions to help socialise the model of work.
Visit their Crowdfunder page here, if you’d like to support the cause
