Walk2Talk with Lumber2Living for Mental Health

Launch Lumber2Living, Spread Awareness for Mental Health, Share experiences and Journeys and Raise Funds for Local Mental Health Charities.

What exactly are we trying to do?

Walk2Talk is promoting action for better mental health, Rebecca and Maddie want to meet people along her journey and talk about mental health. Sharing stories of experiences and journeys that lead them to be where they are today. Gain funds for a walk around the GB coastline to spread awareness for mental health, support local charities and lumber2Living to support people to self-discover their passion in life and gain knowledge/understand about their and others mental health.

"We believe nobody should feel alone in their journey."

How are we going to do it?

Walk, camp, meet people, talk and document peoples stories to spread awareness for mental health around the perimeter of Great Britain, starting with its the inhabited islands.
“Get up with the sunrise, sleep when the sunsets, keeping the sea to the left, walk as far as we can each day, talk to anyone we can, rest when we need to and repeat.”

Walking an estimated 6,500 miles around the Britain's coastline and over 200 inhibited islands to spread awareness for mental health, with a 15kg bag and a therapy dog.
 

Why does our project matter?

Walk2Talk matters because many people suffer in silence without the confidence to take action on how they feel on a day to day basis. The journey in which Rebecca and Maddie will allow people to relate to Rebecca’s journey through poor mental health and to hear stories of other people along her route with experience of their own mental health journey through life and what they did to help themselves. The purpose is to encourage help, to take action, talk to people that understand and to highlight nobody is alone, although it might be hard to think otherwise.

“I believed nothing could work for me and trusted nobody to fully understand until i took an action. Just a step at a time to spread mental health awareness if not for myself for others”.

Walk to self-discovery, meet people with their own stories and share the journey how I can, to as many people as I can, to inspire other to start their own journey to self-discovery.

What impact are we hoping to have?

Hoping people will join Lumber2Living to promote self-discovery, mental health knowledge, realise they are not alone and there is so many people to talk that understand.
Rebecca and Maddie are hoping to share the walk journey and their stories of healing and recovery...inspire people to walk with them along their way, share their stories, show their support for mental health awareness and donate to her chosen charity and lumber2living so more people can have affordable alternative therapy.

Walk and talk with us, share your story, support or donate to our cause.

What makes your project unique?

Just a few statements said that inspired the L2L idea.
“Therapy has never worked for me”
“Just talking to someone is boring and I haven't got time”
“Don’t see how just talking to someone helps”

Lumber2Living encourages confidence in positive actions towards your mental well-being and gaining physical visual results from your efforts in therapy. L2L wants to give the therapy process a solution to expensive, intimidating, emotionally painful therapy by highlighting the psyical results of their actions and efforts in therapy that may be hard to see at the start of a self care process. L2L give it an action based foundation with a hands on approach, talking through their thoughts while making something they have always been interested in building or creating.

“Therapy has no visual results for my efforts and therapy is a luxury when you can only just afford to pay to survive.”
“Paying to uncover the harsh past doesn’t add up to me”

L2L gives a solution to the physical, visual results of therapy and provides an option to fund therapy or a future goal by selling what they make. Each time a person comes the the workshop they will work on finding what they enjoy in life, unearthing a hidden passion that can not only give a new purpose for life but means to provide.

“When was the last time you could afford to do something for you, L2L helped me but didn’t cost me.”
“L2L Therapy can physically show results for my progression and mindset improvement, and I didn't feel guilty spending money I haven't got on myself.” 

What are the motivations for doing this project?

Lumber2Living was set up in honour of Peter Tassi, Rebecca's Dad who committed suicide in 2010 and Rebecca friends who committed suicide that she had lost along her life time or friends that drifted out of her life with addictions through lack of knowledge of mental health and loneliness.
Rebecca has struggled with her own mental health issues all her life, gained a lot of labels to explain her symptoms and tried everything to help herself, from medication, therapy to education. All helped her knowledge but still she felt alone in her situation and knew she wasn’t the only one. 
Walk2Talk is a way to gain knowledge about others mental health journey and discover more about herself while sharing her journey to those on social media that might need reminding they are not alone, there is help out there and starting with abit of action to help you talk, can save yours or somebodies life. Hopefully Walk2Talk can lead by example to just start a step at a time with abit of action to help you talk. Rebecca ad Maddie the therapy dog would like to encourage positive action for your mental health, outside your comfort zone to start the healing and self-discovery process.

Walk2Talk with Lumber2Living for Mental Health Awareness

When did we start working on the project?

Lumber2Living has been an idea for 8 years but after Rebecca turned homeless and attempted suicide for the umptieth time, she took action on her own in a positive manner without even knowing it was a turning point for others too. After another failed attempt to end her frustration and seek help through social services and the NHS, she decided to covert an old stable into a workshop at a farmers yard she stayed at as a teenager and started to make something out of wood to help distract herself from herself. This is when a turning point came in the idea of Lumber2living, she took her time to be good at something she took interest in and she had always wanted to try. She was given old tools and in the process of learning a new hobby she started to heal and gain confidence to talk to people while she was making something. It became easier to talk and work out what her thoughts really meant. From this she felt a need to help herself and others through the studying of psychology and gained a counselling qualification.
From Rebeccas experiences of what worked for her, she set up Lumber2Living therapy workshop and started to make and sell so she could invite more people to come Lumber2Living.

"I thought nothing would work for me and because of my mental health I would always be alone"

What milestones have we achieved already?

Rebecca has progressed by completing her counselling qualifications and degree so creators attending the workshop can be sure they are talking to someone with experience and knowledge. Lumber2Living has not reached any major milestones for a year or so because of lack of funds available, the workshop is still in a stable and is only big enough for one visitor with a craftswoman therapist (Rebecca). Rebecca has also attempted to make her own webite and taken steps to learn how to market Lumber2Living to promote the cause.
The hope is to Walk2Talk to raise funds for a new website, promote Lumber2Livings cause and raise funds for an actually workshop with electric power points for electric power tools not a stable with hand tools only for people to try their interest or hobby while undertaking therapy. We hope also the funds raised will pay for courses, temporary homes and travel costs to make their experience at Lumber2Living more effective.

Walk2Talk movement is wanting to promote the understanding of mental health, spread community and awareness around the area and hopefully make money for the Lumber2living cause and the charities she will walk for.

What have we learned along the way?

Along my journey I have learnt the power for knowing your not alone in your struggles and a little bit of positive action along with your words to express how your feeling goes a long way to self-improvement.

What will the money raised be spent on?
 

The money will be spent on funding ferries, food, supplies and help towards the Walk2Talk movement that will encourage people to talk and share their stories with people that may just need to know they are not alone in their journey and hearing their stories will inspire an action towards seeking help.

Money raised for Lumber2living will provide creators at the workshop with equipment and tools to exercise their interests or new hobby, the funds with provide people with specialist help, therapy and temporary homes while they work on themselves and help their situation. L2L give creators a chance to self-fund their therapy by making things to sell, so funding for supplies and equipment are paramount for the movement of Lumber2Living. The end goal is to rent or own a bigger workshop for more people to come to the L2L therapy workshop.

What are the rewards on offer?

The rewards for the creators sharing their stories, will be the new found talents and passion for life, self-improvement and self-discovery but most of all sharing their journey with new creators coming to the L2L workshop. The rewards will be having positive effect on people seeing the footage and hearing the stories of others from of the Walk2Talk movement and they take action to start sharing themselves.

Rewards for people that pledge or donate to Lumber2Living

• Post card from Maddie and Rebecca to say Thankyou
• Plant a tree seed on my way around my journey for you
• Invite to the workshop
• Free 20mins therapy session 
• Discount voucher off something in the workshop 
• Discount off therapy session 
• Wall of fame on our website (for multiple donations)