EQUITY
Blackdog Outdoors, founded in 2018, offers free outdoor events to those suffering with their mental health. Andrew Higson, the charity’s founder tells us what it’s all about, why the outdoors is so important and the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic.
MENTAL HEALTH AND THE OUTDOORS
I think it’s important that we can talk openly about mental health issues, so here’s my story. I work as a Civil Engineer, which is a high- pressure job, and for much of my early career it meant working away from home. Never the most academic of people, I progressed my career through an apprenticeship, so my pay wasn’t great either. Isolation and stress are not a good mix and I struggled with stress-related anxiety through the early part of my twenties. It was a very dark period in my life when I drank away the worries and piled on the pounds.
Thankfully, I then rediscovered my love for the mountains. I’d been a keen hill walker during my teens but had neglected that passion as my work life took over. Getting out into the hills on a more regular basis allowed me to create some balance in my life, which in turn has allowed me to better control my mental health (and my waist-line!). It really is my therapy. I’m now an avid mountaineer, qualified Mountain Leader and navigation tutor.
The idea for Blackdog Outdoors began in a mountain hut on Mount Elbrus in Russia in July 2018. I’d recently completed a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) qualification with work. Conversation in the mountain hut was initially scatological but then we got onto the subject of why we were all there.
The majority of the team recognised mountaineering, and generally being outdoors, as our personal therapy. The challenge and escape from a fast-paced life was felt to be good for our individual mental health. There are many organisations promoting mental health support, and many promoting the outdoors, but few promoting the link between both. I decided there was an opportunity to use my passion for the outdoors to help other people realise those benefits.
A Blackdog Outdoors event. Adam Vaughan Photography
62 | CLIMB. WALK. JOIN.
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