I've had mental health problems for over 20 years. In 2014 I was living in China, where mental health is a taboo subject. I would be back in Cumbria, England over the summer and had started to thing about a project I could do to bring together the things I enjoy; hiking, music and meeting new people with something I felt I should be doing, talking about mental illness.

 

In 2006 I reached the lowest ebb in my struggle with depression, anxiety and selfharm. I severed the ulna artery and nerve in my left wrist alongwith several tendons. It wasn't a suicide attempt. It was the result of letting selfharming impulses get too strong by refusing to talk, self-medicating with drink and denying that my mental illness was getting worse.

 

One day in early 2014 I saw on facebook that one of my friends had gone missing. The next day the news announced he was dead. That same day I read a message from another friend apologising for not being in touch. He had just been released from hospital following an overdose. What was happening? Why were these intelligent, talented guys crumbling? I decided that I would do something to act as a catalyst to get people talking about mental health. Not donating money, not turning lives around but simply talking, the first, necessary step to tackling mental illness. 

 

Only in recent years could I say I've started learning how to manage my mental health. The project would stand as a metaphor for it. Things like walking, music and being sociable have all been shown to be good for our mental health. Great! Talking about mental health is something we shy away from. Why not take the edge off the talks by combining them with gigs? I'd even walk between some of the gigs but be sensible, not overdo it or plan gigs back to back.

 

I'd organised plenty of events and gigs before so I knew that a long campaign over a large area would help me get some good publicity. The aim of the project was to get people talking, so by getting folk to come to the gigs, joining me for a walk or seeing the project advertised I could hopefully give them an excuse to talk about mental health.

 

Did it work? Did it reach a lot of people? Did they start talking?

 

I don't know. 

 

Sometimes we just have to follow our convictions.

 

You can read some of the comments from supporters on the press page.