Trust yourself to Talk


I recently read an article in the National Trust magazine written by a Trust member, Mal Emerson. He wrote:
‘My life changed 23 years ago when my leg was caught in the drum at work as I was repairing a conveyor belt.
After the accident, it took me nearly 5 years to be able to walk just a couple of hundred metres. My mentality was to try to walk to one more lamp-post every day. Now I can’t believe how far I can walk. The accident broke my body, but it also broke my mind. Severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) took over my life and I completely lost myself. The mental scars just wouldn’t go away.
These days, when the trauma kicks in, I go walking to lose the memories. One day, I decided to share my story on Facebook about how walking has helped my health both physically and mentally. I wrote, ‘if anyone wants to join me, I will meet you at the end of the pier.’ When I arrived, there were 16 men waiting and I thought, ‘there must be something in this!’ Now I have founded Mal’s Marauders, men’s health charity where, through walk and talk events, we bring men together to share their experiences and shed the social stigma of mental health while getting fitter on walks in wonderful places.’
This seems to me to be a really great idea. Men don’t talk about their emotions and more organisations are springing up to encourage them to open up about how they feel and how they are coping. Doing this while going for a walk in lovely countryside is a bonus. Hopefully, when this crisis is over many more men will learn to walk and talk openly and allow themselves a way of safely exploring their feelings.

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