by Joe O’Donnell. I #hikeOctober because in nature, there isn’t stigma, the need to covering up mental illness and emotional pain.  Nature itself provides some healing, but so do the people you meet walking and reflections and insights you have along the way.  This was my experience in 2015, when I completed an Appalachian Trail thru-hike fundraising for HIKE for Mental Health.  I haven’t done anything nearly as big since, but I carry with me the lessons I learned from that experience.

by Brandon “Flying Crow”. Many of us suffer from mental illness in one form or another. Many of us tend to be silent. I know it’s not the best thing to do but finding it better to open up and sharing with others is. Connecting with others on or off the trails and being able to sharing our experiences has also shown me that we are not alone. There are so many out there affected by mental illness more than we know. I know I have had my share of moments with depression and to me hiking is a way to ground myself.

by Tom Kennedy. I hike October, because it was 2011 when a strange set of circumstances brought three souls together. It was in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. At the time Leo was living in Toronto, Nancy in the Houston area of Texas and me in New Jersey. At that time I didn’t think that this happenstance was a life changer but it was. One day over dinner at a local Holiday Inn, we decided that we wanted to do something to give back, something to do with hiking. So Leo said, Okay, let’s think about this, why do we hike? I immediately said. “We HIKE for Mental Health.