One South African man, who, like many South Africans, suffered from COVID-related anxiety, is looking to set a running world record as he runs along the South African coastline in order raise funds for a mental health charity.
The lockdown was hard on millions of South African, including restauranteur Henry Cock. It forced the closure of his restaurants, leaving his employees without income. But even before the stresses of lockdown, he had been suffering from severe anxiety, and in 2019 had started seeing a therapist.
As with so many people faced with the unexpected hardships of lockdown, he came up with a way to help his employees. He aimed to raise R80 000 for them through a innovative campaign, which involved Cock ‘running the Comrades Marathon’ — consisting of some 6000 laps up and down his own passageway to make up the 90km.
Though no less a gruelling undertaking than doing it outdoors, this turned out to be more successful than anticipated.
“In the end, we managed to raise R120 000,” he related. “It took eleven hours. Eleven hours of running back and forth across a 15-metre passage with just a few short breaks to eat and rest my legs,” he said.
With only his walls to look at during his hours of running, the 34-year-old had time to think about helping out others in light of the mental health challenges he himself had experienced.
Cock has started the ‘Mentally Aweh’ campaign to raise funds for South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), an organisation that provides free counselling to thousands of South Africans on a daily basis. His inspiration was the Terry Fox Initative, started by Canadian Terry Fox, who attempted to run across that vast country to raise funds for cancer research, though he passed away before he could complete it.
“I will be running the length of the South African coastline, from Kosi Bay in KwaZulu-Natal to Vioolsdrift near the Namibia border, to raise awareness for mental health and raise R6 million for the South African Depression and Anxiety Group,” Cock told Health-e News.
And the unmet need is vast. As he explained on his fundraising page, only a shocking 0.89% of the uninsured South African population has access to free mental health care.
Call volumes doubled since lockdown
SADAG senior counsellor Fatima Seedat said that call volumes had doubled since the start of lockdown.
“We used to receive 600 calls a day. When we entered the pandemic, with lockdown, we were getting over 1200 calls a day. That’s excluding the emails we receive, the SMSes received, and the WhatsApp messages that we receive on a daily basis. We have had around 500,000 calls since lockdown until now.”
Because it is toll free, SADAG’s phone bill runs up to R120 000 each month, so Cock’s mission to raise R6 million will help greatly.
“It is an absolutely amazing initiative,” said Seedat. “Henry is an inspiration for standing up for mental health, because that alone breaks a lot of barriers and boundaries.”
Mental health in South Africa
A third of South Africans will experience a mental health issue during their lifetime, according to SADAG. Depression and anxiety are also considered as mental illnesses, and are much more common than believed.
Cock endured his own mental strain during the lockdown; financial uncertainty, the ending of a long-term relationship, and the illness of a family member all set off his battle with anxiety.
“I was in a very bad space last year, like a very bad space. I was struggling. You get to a point when you’re an anxiety sufferer that you just think this is normal. You just think that this state of being is normal, but it’s not normal,” he said.
This is a pattern that Alexa Scher, a clinical psychologist in private practice, often sees.
“I think there is a lot under the surface that blocks people from actually saying, you know what, I’m not okay. We are usually scared to acknowledge and admit that and notice that in ourselves, so it can creep in invisibly, and then all of a sudden, you’re crying all the time, and then you think, ‘Oh, yeah, maybe this isn’t actually normal.’”
She advised that one should seek help when their state of mind begins to impact their ability to function.
Free help is available
While Cock was able to seek help, the majority of South Africans cannot access mental health treatment, which is why he is trying to help SADAG.
The organisation operates the only suicide crisis line in the country, and also has a 24-hour toll-free telephonic, SMS, and WhatsApp lines.
“We reach people not only in your urban areas, but deep rural areas. People are really in need of help in rural areas because there are not many resources available. So we try to help as many people as we can, by reaching out to everyone,” Seedat explained.
SADAG has about 200 volunteers working in shifts, and all go through a screening process.
While Cock will hit the road solo, and does feel a certain pressure to succeed within the 133 days, he said he is using his emotions to motivate himself.
“I channel all of that energy into days when I’m feeling down or feeling bad. I remind myself that I’m not doing it just for me — I’m doing it to raise awareness for these people that really struggle and don’t have access to the same resources that I do,” he said.
“No matter how dark it is, it’s important to remember that you’re not alone. Reach out. You’ll be surprised how much help you actually receive if you just ask.”
Henry Cock’s journey can be followed on Instagram at @cock.henry.
SADAG can be reached on 0800 567 567.
Source: Health-e News
