Since the creation of Mental Health Motorbike at the beginning of 2020 a lot has happened, not least a global pandemic. We were forced to concentrate our efforts online and saw a massive growth in our support community as the lockdowns had a heavy toll on the public’s mental health.
With some optimism we pushed on with our desire to get out into the real world to raise awareness of suicide rates of bikers and a primary goal of having a trained Mental Health First Aider from the motorcycle community in every town and city across the UK. Our aim was to ride the extent of the UK, over 3000 miles, accompanied along the way with nominated baton carriers. The GPS tracked baton would be handed from rider to rider as we visited as many venues as possible along the way.
With all the planning completed we finally awaited the final roadmap out of the current lockdown. Having reviewed this and after many hours of discussion we feel that it would not be possible to complete the ride in the original timeframe while adhering to the guidelines. Furthermore, we would not be able to realise the original vision of community involvement.
It is on this basis that Mental Health Motorbike has made the hard decision to postpone the ride until 2022.
We will continue to reach out the community throughout 2021 not least with our ambassador presence at every stage of the Bennett’s British Superbike season and with attendance at as many motorcycle events such as the Overland Festival.
Our primary goal remains to train as many MHFA volunteers as possible and this in turn will help us build capacity to provide the much-required support to the motorcycle community and beyond.
We acknowledge and thank you for your continued support that has allowed us in the last year alone to achieve:
More than 6.5k online supported on social media, support and fundraising groups
Over 97 regional ambassadors
Over 56 MHFAs trained
More than 780 cases of individual One to One support
And, most importantly…
The support of 57 members who were at the point of suicide but are still with us today.
On Tuesday we start the first ever MHM Mental Health First Aid course. This is a pivotal moment as it means the MHM national biker support network becomes a step closer to reality. What makes it more special is all the participants are all MHM moderators and ambassadors. It is going to be a special moment when this course kicks off, though knowing some of the characters it will be a challenge (but entertaining)!
A huge thanks goes out to www.andyelwood.com for sponsoring this event and making the magic happen. And to Iain ‘Gudgeon’ Fish for the image. More news will be posted soon and how this course is going.
World Mental Health Day (10 October) is an international day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy against social stigma. It was first celebrated in 1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organisation with members and contacts in more than 150 countries. This day, each October, thousands of supporters come to celebrate this annual awareness program to bring attention to mental illness and its major effects on peoples’ lives worldwide.
The History of World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day was celebrated for the first time on October 10, 1992 at the initiative of Deputy Secretary General Richard Hunter. Up until 1994, the day had no specific theme other than general promoting mental health advocacy and educating the public.
In 1994 World Mental Health Day was celebrated with a theme for the first time at the suggestion of then Secretary General Eugene Brody. The theme was “Improving the Quality of Mental Health Services throughout the World.”
World Mental Health Day is supported by WHO through raising awareness on mental health issues using its strong relationships with the Ministries of health and civil society organizations across the globe. WHO also supports with developing technical and communication material.
As we head towards winter already our plans are in-place for an epic event next May. We are preparing for the launch of the MHM Baton Relay event 2021. The last few days we’ve created publicity, a podcast, a press pack and this new web page. The project goes live so watch this space and see you on the 10th! which is World Mental Health Awareness Day
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