BEN Donnelly will take thousands of steps as he walks from Lake Eyre to Mt Kosciusko, but the first step is the most important.
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Mr Donnelly, of Malmsbury near Bendigo, is walking more than 2000 kilometres from Australia’s lowest point to its highest peak to raise awareness and money for R U OK, a mental health foundation.
He said his journey mirrors the emotional highs and lows of life and mental illness.
“It’s a good analogy to use,” he said.
“Everyone goes through things differently and we all have different reactions to life.
“The reaction one person would have is different to someone else.
“We don’t open up and we’re not honest enough. We look around and think no one else is struggling – so think why am I?
“If we give honest answers we’d see a lot more people are having struggles. When we open up we allow other people to open up.”
Mr Donnelly will pass through Nhill, Dimboola and Horsham this week and said the response to his 60 day trip and message had been heart-warming.
“It’s been really interesting,” he said. “Talking to people they let you know different situations they’ve been through, they highlight someone they know’s struggle or their own – the message clearly resonates.
“One other aspect to the walk is to use kindness – treating people kindly goes a long way.”
Mr Donnelly is a former primary school principal and said language and conversations were hugely important in mental health.
“What I found with my teaching background is we often teach people how to speak but we don’t give them to the language they need as they develop through different phases of life,” he said.
“R U OK? is a good entry level intervention to work with others and people needing assistance. It’s not about being able to solve someone’s problems for them, it’s to point them in the right direction, to listen and to use the right words to point them towards assistance.”
Mr Donnelly said he aimed to complete the journey before it was too snowy at Mt Kosciusko.
He said readers could find out more and donate at www.pittopeak.com.