79 Mile Walk for Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention

Local man Paul Chambers is currently in training for a walking challenge to raise awareness and funds for the charity he co -founded - The Creative Mental Health Charity, PoetsIN. The 79 mile walk will take place between 11th15th September and will co ver bo th the Chiltern Hills and Bar ton Hills, places Paul o ften visits for his o wn wellbeing. 79 men ended their lives each week in England to wards the end o f 2022 which is why Paul has chosen to walk for this amount o f miles

Paul will be walking with old f riend, ex-army veteran Greg Husbands (and Stanley the dog) during Suicide Awareness Week Paul told the Arlesey News Magazine: “Greg and I have bo th struggled with our mental health in the past and no w aim to raise awareness (and maybe some funds) for a most wor thy cause ” “We’ll be broadcasting f rom the walk, and actively sharing (and using) our o wn mental health tools throughou t each day ”

“We all need to talk so much more in order to normalise the subject o f mental health ” “People can join us for a day, half a day, or even just a mile; bu t the more people joining in and talking abou t it using the hashtag #The79 the better ”

Paul may be recognisable (especially to our young people) as o ver recent months he has been active in delivering assemblies, workshops and mental health programmes in Bedfordshire schools – more recently at bo th Etonbur y Academy and Samuel Whitbread; all with the aim o f enabling students to speak abou t their o wn mental health and learning wellbeing tools that will help them for life He strives to be the person he didn’t kno w he needed when he was at school

The Creative Mental Health Charity PoetsIN is an awardwinning organisation which o ffers a safe space for people who are experiencing poor mental health and mental illnesses. Its Creative Mental Health Programme™ encourages people to express their feelings via creative ou tlets and simply talking. It has a success rate in the high 90 percents and those who take par t repor t having reduced suicidal thoughts, self-harm less and symptoms o f depression and anxiety are signif icantly eased.

More abou t the fundraiser on https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/paul-chambers79 Find ou t more abou t the charity, their ser vices and do wnload mental wellbeing tools on www poetsin com