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Riding for Mental Health

Riding for Mental Health

May 27, 2019 | 12:00 AM

PRINCE GEORGE – What does riding a bike have to do with mental health?  Well, a lot actually.  It invokes a lot of ways to improve our own mental health, things most of us already know but take for granted:  It gets you physically active and outside, you can soak up some vitamin D from the sun, and it can get you away from the many digital screens we have in our lives, if just for a little bit.  Biking can also help us socialize, which as we all know is important for our well-being.  Humans are by nature social creatures.  We are not meant to live in a bubble, which a lot of the time is exactly what dealing with mental illness can feel like.

Lonely.  Isolated.  Dark.  These are common terms used when describing mental illness.  Whether it’s schizophrenia or bipolar, depression or anxiety, these can be terrifying experiences if you experience them alone or for the first time.  That’s what Ride Don’t Hide is all about.  Coming out of those shadows.

“Whether you’re struggling or not, and you know someone or you don’t, it’s a cause that so many people can be helped from.  And this event may quite have certainly saved my life,” describes Brooklyn Derksen, this year’s local Ride Don’t Hide spokesperson.  Mental health is a complex issue to tackle. It starts with awareness, learning what supports are out there, and most importantly, knowing you’re not alone.

Participating in this year’s event means being part of a conversation which brings mental health into the open, but also helping improve local mental health services.  In previous years, Ride Don’t Hide funds helped fund mental health training such as Mental Health First Aid.  This two-day course has seen growing popularity among schools, health centers, support homes, and other work places as the conversation on how to address first aid from a mental health perspective becomes more common and accepted. This year however, funds raised from the ride will go towards rebuilding the Canadian Mental Health Association’s local Clubhouse which burned down last August.

The Clubhouse was a place where CMHA clientele and other community members living with mental illness met, worked, trained, and were able to discuss mental health freely and openly.  “We often refer to the fact that that program quietly served the community of Prince George for over 35 years,” describes Mary Lu Spagrud, CMHAPG’s Manager of Education who teaches the Mental Health First Aid course as well as the suicide prevention workshops safeTALK and ASIST.  “It’s a safe and wonderful place for people who live with mental health illnesses to go,” she adds.  One of CMHA’s social enterprises – Two Rivers Catering – was also based out of the Clubhouse, which offered culinary training and eventually paid working positions for clients.  Currently, CMHA’s Clubhouse is functioning out of the Aboriginal Housing Society building on 17^th, but this arrangement is intended to be temporary until a new Clubhouse is built.  Despite the recent challenges, the CMHA Clubhouse remains a shining example of breaking the stigma around mental health.

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You don’t have to be on two wheels to enjoy the event that takes place at the CN Centre parking lot.  There will be a health fair with a range of vendors ready to share information, products, and services.  Sometimes a conversation around mental health will find relevancy in the most unexpected of places, again proving how everyone is impacted by it.

And while the event itself is not a race, there are options to participate in a 6km, 15km, 30km, and 50km route, whatever suits your own personal challenge.  There will be lead and end riders to help guide and support cyclists, so you won’t be alone on the road.  The focus of the event is to have an open place to discuss mental health in conjunction with casual fitness activity.

Cycling works great for this as you can go at your own pace.  And like most activities, the more the merrier.  One only need to look at the recent Prince George Bike Rave to see how fun cycling can be in large groups.  And for those who do seek a challenge, the Wheeling Warriors cycling group are a great example of how supportive these groups can be on those long distance bike rides.  We’ve all been there when it seems like those hills will never end.  It feels like dark storm clouds will start to roll in at any moment, leaving you doubting yourself and what you’re capable of.  Rest assured, you can feel a better knowing that someone else struggled with those same hills and that people are behind you cheering you on, and waiting for you on the other side for when you reach the top.  Let’s not pretend that once you conquered a hill that you’ll never have to do it again. But knowing you’ve done it once can mean a world of difference when you have to do it the next time, especially with a supportive group of people by your side.

That’s why it’s called “Ride Don’t Hide.”  Because we’re not in this alone.

Sign up for today at www.ridedonthide.com/princegeorge