Blackdog Outdoors is essentially a team of volunteers that facilitate outdoor events for those affected by poor mental health. It is a registered charity with the Charity Commission (registration number 1189191). We started out with just a sign-posting website that acted as a central hub of information, tips on safety, and so on.
Our first real lesson was that we hadn’t fully considered the barriers that may exist with our target audience. As the website became more popular, we started to receive feedback that, although the information was useful, anxiety (amongst other conditions) made it difficult for some people to use it themselves. There were concerns that ranged from a fear of getting lost to how to go to the toilet in the great outdoors. So we started to host group events that are free to attend, led by qualified outdoor professionals and supported by mental health first aiders.
Our events provide a safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment for attendees to experience a sense of adventure. To date we’ve held nineteen events across the whole of the UK, which have allowed us to engage with more than 300 amazing people. We cover hill walking, climbing, indoor bouldering, paddle sports, and hill skills.
Our aspiration is to get the message to those outside of the mountaineering community so that we’re not simply preaching to the converted. Many of the Blackdog Outdoors team are active Mental Health First Aiders within our day job organisations. We use this to promote the benefits of outdoor recreation to colleagues who perhaps don’t share our sense of adventure, yet. We’ve also supported a number of corporate events to help promote improved mental health, including a group walk to Scafell Pike and a sponsored Yorkshire 3 Peaks event. We also write articles and blogs for magazines and journals within our respective professions.
“Our events provide a free, safe, supportive and non-judgemental environment for attendees to experience a sense of adventure”
It’s been great to see that there is so much empathy in the outdoor community. Blackdog Outdoors has no regular source of funding as yet, but over the past eighteen months some generous donations have helped cover some overhead costs, including training for the charity staff. We try to make our events free to attend so that they’re accessible to all. In order for this to happen we have voluntary, donated support from:
• Qualified outdoor professionals (Mountain Leader, Rock Climbing Instructor, etc) to supplement our core team
• Aspirant outdoor professionals to help with group management (which also provides them with invaluable experience)
• Mental Health First Aid qualified support staff • BMC insurance for all attendees • Advertisement of our events by BMC, Mountain Training Association, Mountaineering Scotland, Mountains for the Mind, and paddlesport clubs affiliated with British Canoeing
We are incredibly grateful to all the individuals and organisations that support us in delivering our work. It really is an amazing team effort.
About mental health
Every week, one in six adults will experience symptoms of a common mental health problem. This is a statistic from the 2014 APMS (Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey). Startlingly, the survey also highlighted that one in five adults has considered taking their own life at some point. These are sobering facts.
It’s not all bad news, though. As a society, we’re now increasingly well informed about mental health, with numerous organisations working hard, locally and nationally, to de-stigmatise and raise awareness of mental health issues. The promotion of better mental health is being taken up by many employers and businesses. There is also a significant body of research and practice setting out ways to improve mental health and emotional wellbeing. Hopefully the next APMS will show an improvement in the 2014 statistics.
The role of sport and recreation in improving mental health is increasingly clear – the NHS are even prescribing it. Benefits include improved mood, improved self-esteem and reduced stress.
Many mental health organisations cite ‘green exercise’ as a means of improving mental health.
My opinion is that we’re living in a world that our minds simply haven’t evolved to cope with. Research suggests that humans have been around for a few hundred thousand years but only settled into societies around 10,000 years ago. The advance of technology between then and the mid-1700s was fairly slow. The 1700s to the early 1900s brought us the Industrial Revolution, flight and mass- production, leading to a relatively faster-paced life. But from the late 1980s onwards – whoosh – mobile phones, computers, the internet, affordable cars, affordable flights.
We’re sat at desks, behind computers and flying around the world when, in our deep subconscious, we’re still living off the land. This is probably over-simplified, but I essentially believe that the pace and stress of modern life is exacerbating mental health issues. Getting out into the hills allows us to reconnect with nature, something I believe we yearn for at a primal level… something that came naturally to us as children but many have since been forgotten.
BMC HANDBOOK |
www.thebmc.co.uk | 63
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