Walking, Talking, Cake and Mental Health
Posted by See Me, 15 September 2017
GALASHIELS is set to tackle mental health stigma with walking, talking and cake, later this month.
The Walk a Mile event is being arranged by See Me community champion Bridget Dickson and The Depressed Cake Shop, to get the town talking about mental health.
The aim of the event, on September 30th is to bring anyone who cares about tackling mental health discrimination, to break down barriers as they walk a mile in each other’s shoes.
The event will also raise funds for the Inspiring Life Evie Douglas Memorial Fund, which was created after the suicide of 21-year-old Peebles dancer Evie Douglas.
So far thousands of people have taken part in Walks across Scotland, which included an event in Peebles earlier this year.
The Walk a Mile campaign was created by See Me with activist Chris McCullough Young, based on his walk around the edge of Scotland, where he spoke to everyone he met about mental health, to change attitudes one conversation at a time.
Bridget said: "It’s good to walk and it’s good to talk, so I want people to get together in do both to put a stop to stigma and discrimination associated with mental health issues.
“After all, one out of every four of us will be affected by some form of poor mental health in our lifetime.
“It is so important that people who already feel isolated are not ostracised simply because of an illness. With greater conversation on these issues there will come greater understanding.”
Calum Irving, See Me director, said: “Mental health affects all of us, but there is still a stigma around it. To tackle this properly people need to understand that it is okay not to be okay.
“One of the best ways to change how people think and behave is to make mental health a topic in day to day conversation, rather than a taboo subject people don’t want to talk about.”
The event begins at 11am in the Volunteer Hall, Galashiels and the walk will begin at 12.30pm.
