Mental Health Champions supporting fellow runners
This week is Mental Health Awareness Week (12-18 May 2025), so we would like to highlight the support provided by our Mental Health Champions within their clubs and RunTogether groups. Their role is to provide a listening ear to anyone in their group who needs support and to signpost them to appropriate further support.
We caught up with Sue Palmer, Hastings Runners, and Michael Beasley, Stone Master Marathoners, to find out more about how running has impacted their own mental health and how they have supported their running groups.
The benefits of running in a community
Michael started running 12 years ago to improve his physical health and lose weight, but since then has discovered that the benefits stretch far beyond this. He has found running is much easier and provides a greater destress from his day job when he runs with others, thanks to the sense of community.
“I have a very demanding role as I’m a community nurse working in forensic services. Whilst it can be very rewarding, there is a certain amount pressure/anxiety with the role of working alongside the criminal justice agencies (police/court/prison).
“I was always aware of the benefits of running for physical health but found that being with others (running club/running groups), getting out in the countryside and having time away from work helped to relive some of those pressures/anxieties.”
Similarly, Sue feels well supported running in a group, which has also had a positive impact on her mental health. She joined Hastings Runners having signed up for a local charity half marathon 15 years ago and never looked back.
“Running has supported my mental health in many ways, as getting out in nature always helps me feel better and meeting other people when running with a group has helped me to feel part of a community and combats any feelings of loneliness and isolation I might have been experiencing. Running also boosts my mood, as it releases feel good endorphins!”
Providing opportunities for others to talk
Having both experienced the benefits of a supportive running community themselves, Michael and Sue wanted others to be able to do the same. Therefore, they both signed up to be Mental Health Champions in their running clubs to provide a listening ear for anyone who may be struggling.
Michael explained, “As I have said the benefits of running certainly helped my emotional and psychological wellbeing and I wanted to help others who maybe struggle with their mental health. I have friends and colleagues who have struggled with mental illness and have not responded to medication and I wanted them to have the same opportunity as I have.
“I found that people don’t want to talk about mental illness (always happy to tell you about physical health problems) and I wanted people to be able to talk about their mental health in a safe and supportive environment.”
Sue added, “Having struggled at times with my own mental wellbeing and as a yoga teacher, I wanted to promote how running can improve your mood. I also wanted to offer people opportunities to discuss how they feel.”
The positive impact of #RunAndTalk
Hosting a #RunAndTalk session is a great way to provide an opportunity for all members of your running group and the local community to be able to talk openly without the formality of a face-to-face discussion. Starting a conversation can be a really positive step to improving mental health. Both Hastings Runners and Stone Master Marathoners regularly run these sessions.
Sue describes how the team of Mental Health Champions at Hastings Runners prioritise these sessions to support their local community.
“We accessed funding to carry out walk/run/talk events followed by a drink in our local park. We get many people attend who enjoy the time together. I am fortunate that there are four Mental Health Champions who support this initiative.”
For Stone Master Marathoners, they use mental health awareness days to provide a topic of conversation for their monthly #RunAndTalk sessions. These provide an opportunity for the running community to support each other.
“We have introduced monthly #RunAndTalk sessions at our club, Stone Master Marathoners. Our previous and current chairman have been very supportive of ensuring we look after our mental health. We usually go for a steady run about 5k and then return to our club house for a brew and doughnut which the club pay for.
“We have a different theme each month and try to tie in with Mental Health Awareness Week theme, World Mental Health Day and other significant days in the calendar (suicide awareness etc). We have had members talk to abut their own mental illness and a member talked about how she coped with the suicide of her son.”