I get asked this a lot. Like, a hell of a lot.
I used to find this question somewhat frustrating, and I’d react quite negatively. I realise now that this was just a defensive (and scared) reaction of mine.
It frightened me that people were expecting some grandiose outcome from Run Talk Run, that I wasn’t sure I could deliver. I couldn’t deliver it, because I didn’t even know what they were expecting when they asked this question.
What I have come to realise with Run Talk Run, is that there is no “end goal”. Some things in life simply do not have an “end goal”… they just are.
That’s not to say we don’t have goals at all. But our goals are not “end goals”, they are goals that will help us improve our reach, goals that will make us safer and more effective, goals that will hopefully ease the burden of mental ill health for as many people as possible.
I have three big goals for Run Talk Run in 2019:
To have a RTR in every county in the UK
To have a RTR in every state in the US
To receive funding and/or a grant
These goals are designed to help us support people in as many places as we possibly can. Because I genuinely believe that us humans are more than capable of supporting our peers. These goals are also designed to help us operate more safely. Funding would allow us to provide training to run leaders, running kit for those attending, and further mental health support for those in the community if required.
I may not reach those goals, but I’ll be working damn hard on trying to make it happen – you can count on that. And heck, if we fall short, you can bet there will be plenty more new towns and cities offering a mental health support community that didn’t exist before. And that will be good enough for me.
So… no. We don’t have an “end goal”.
We just have mini goals which should hopefully make seeking mental health support a good lot easier, and we’ll be having a lot of fun in the process.