Following the success of his inaugural event in 2023, Michael Kelleher is bringing his walk for mental health back for round two.
For Kelleher, the idea to do the walk came from a period of darkness in his life, after the passing of a number of people close to him.
“To lose all of my male role models and go through the walk of life and all the difficulties without having that advice or support or that channel of someone I could go to, not being able to pick up the phone, was really hard, and I went to a really bad place with mental health,” he said.
After a year of this, Kelleher said that rather than doing a new year’s resolution, he committed to a ‘new life resolution’, where each year he would undertake a task which is “completely insane, and weird and wonderful” to challenge the stigma around mental health.
Last year, this was his walk for PTSD, which saw him walk 100km around Hickey’s Sporting Complex in just 24 hours in support of TIACS – a free phone and text counselling service offering mental health support to Australia’s blue-collar community.
“Last year’s response for my walk for PTSD was unreal. I had over 200 people come down to support the event and walk with me, and we raised over $5900 for TIACS,” he said.
“The best part was, I made it! I walked 100kms in 24 hours, with seven seconds to spare on the clock.”
Following this response, Kelleher decided to turn the event into an annual one, bringing it back on Saturday, September 14 with a twist that means anyone can get involved.
“There will be a QR code where people can either register to come and join me and just support me in doing my walk, the same as what I did last year, or they can make their own pledge, so they might want to pledge to walk for five hours, or they might want to pledge to walk for 10km, or there might even be a nut job out there that’s crazy enough to walk 100km in 24 hours with me!” Kelleher said.
This year, Kelleher is aiming to beat his goal and raise $10,000 for TIACS, with as many people pledging to join him on the walk as possible.
But, with plenty to see and do on the day, it seems there’s no reason not to pop down and enjoy the day.
“We’ve got food trucks, we’ve got a coffee van coming down, between 3pm and 8pm we’ve got exhibition matches being hosted on the football field, we’ve got a nighttime disco that’ll be after the football matches, and then we’re advertising a camp out under the stars for kids that want to get involved as well,” Kelleher said.
“There’s lots and lots of free activities for people to come and participate in, and the opportunity for people to just come and do a lap and have a chat.”
To register for the MENTAL Walk, visit https://bit.ly/3yAPmdk.
To donate to the cause, visit https://bit.ly/3Ao9boT.
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.