I have struggled with my mental health since I was 15, when my only sibling passed away from cervical cancer.

I found it so difficult to process and it was several years before I started to come to terms with my loss.

It wasn’t until I had a mental breakdown at work in 2006, that I sought out counselling.

In early 2011 I had a further mental breakdown after a long term relationship broke up.

By the summer of 2011, I started a new job working in social care, this is where my life started to change.

By the end of 2011, I met my now Wife and my mental health improved and I started to enjoy life again.

My work is so rewarding and is an amazing therapy for me mentally, but is also physically and mentally demanding supporting Adults with Learning Disabilities.

I first began walking during lockdown, as work became unbearable at times, due to the extra demands, supporting vulnerable adults through their own worries and concerns, as well as my own concerns, worries and restrictions, it was a mental rollercoaster.

I found walking such a release, like a valve being released in my head and all my worries drifted away during my walks.

During the second lockdown I took training to become one of the mental health champions within the workplace.

Over the past four years I have organised walks for people I support, charities that our close to my heart such as the Down’s Syndrome Association with other carers and SEN parents such as my myself.

I was inspired by the short film on the One Show by Men Walking and Talking.

After discovering that there weren’t any groups nearby, I felt inspired to contact Men Walking and Talking about leading a local group in my area of Ely Cambridgeshire.

I enjoy meeting new people, chatting about anything or nothing in particular and I love to walk.