this talk: is about setting up a running support group to cope with depression and anxiety - with Jessica Robson
I have always been someone who "feels things" very intensely. This is partly due to the fact that I am massively empathetic, constantly absorbing the feelings of those around me, and it is partly due to the fact that I am very self aware. Sometimes, too much so. To put it bluntly, I care a lot, about a lot of things. I'm the one crying in the cinema (at the happy scenes), and wincing when I see others in pain. I soak up energy around me and layer it on top of my own feelings. It's how I operate.
All of this "intense feeling" has placed me into depression and anxiety in the past. Sometimes I care too much about past events, ruminating on my, or other people's, wrongdoings (depression)... or I am already thinking 5 years into the future, creating imaginary scenarios of hurt and upset (anxiety).
In the past, some disordered coping mechanisms have materialised as a response to caring too much. Like overeating and throwing up my food (bulimia), and/or finding myself in unhelpful and unhealthy relationships, which only unknowingly cause me to sink further into my mental ill health.
Running, quite simply, has been the healthiest coping mechanism I have found to date for handling such intense bursts of emotion. Creating a global movement from these intuitive and empathetic qualities was never really part of the life plan. It just transpired that these qualities would help me create something beautiful when the time was right.
I started Run Talk Run in October 2017, after some significant life changes had me spiralling into a spell of depression that I quite simply wasn't shifting. I was struggling to open up in therapy, and found myself lying to my therapist about the reality of my thoughts (often suicidal) out of fear of being judged. Running unexpectedly gave me an alternative space to be honest about my mental health, and it was through traversing local trails with my mum in Sussex that I was shown just how liberating it is to share your truth when you don't have eye contact to deal with. Run Talk Run is a reflection of that space I found with mum.
I started it just as one weekly support group, running from Monument Station (London) every Thursday evening.
The premise:
you do not have to be fast enough, fit enough, chatty enough, ill enough, well enough... you just come as you are
it is a mental health support group first, and a running group second
we walk, jog, talk our way through 5km
We are not therapists, or running coaches. We are simply peer-to-peer support, offering each other a safe space to talk about the "stuff" that can ordinarily feel unique to us alone. There is something rather powerful about being surrounded by people who "get it" when it comes to mental health. It is for people who need a less scary space to talk about how they're doing, that isn't quite as formal as professional therapy.
Almost three years later, Run Talk Run is now facilitating 85 support groups worldwide, all led by volunteers who want to make a difference to the community they operate in. We are ALL for all abilities, all 5km, and all a safe space to talk about your mental health without fear of judgment.
Running hasn't saved me from the intense emotions I experience, and nor has Run Talk Run, but they are most certainly the most healthy coping mechanisms I have found myself to date and I will continue to love them with all of my heart.