Mountains for the Mind
Fitz is the founder of JOE’S GIANTS, a charity created in memory of his friend Joe to encourage others to climb mountains for their mental health.
Mental health out in the open, PLUS win a Berghaus jacket
Joe’s Giants was formed from the loss of a true friend of mine, Joe Johnson. It’s been nearly four years now since Joe passed, yet I knew after he left I would find a way to honour his loss and spread awareness for suicide prevention.
On birthdays and anniversaries Joe has always been remembered by others, but at first I never felt I was doing enough to keep his flame alight, which elevated my own mental health struggles and pushed me to my lowest point.
I started having conversations with like-minded people, sharing a love for the outdoors, feeling part of a community that exists only to those who share steps on the fells, and understanding the presence of walking amongst giants. I felt at a point of no return, yet mountains saved me. I knew others needed this lifeline, with Joe’s light guiding me.
At Joe’s Giants, we truly believe mountain therapy isn’t like any other therapy we’ve seen, felt or heard. With the mountains being accessible to anyone, and with our own mindset towards paying for mental health services being wrong, we offer our service at no charge as a free mental health service.
How do we cover overheads and keep ourselves moving? Through the week I work on a building site and Joe’s Giants continues to move through fundraisers. Our mission is to show people how to use mountains and the great outdoors to aid others by surrounding themselves with good people and creating a supportive community. Then hopefully they can show others who don’t currently walk in the mountains how they can use it for their own mental health. The drive for what we do comes from Joe, and from helping others. Joe was always a helper. He had a heart of gold and all the time in the world for anyone who needed him. He was also an outdoor activity instructor, so what we do here at Joe’s Giants couldn’t be any more fitting. We primarily focus on general hillwalking and scrambling, supporting people who might not have the knowledge or confidence to head into the hills alone. Over time, with the right funding, we aim to progress out to water sports, climbing, and anything centred around the outdoors.
If you want to get involved over the summer, we post advance booking details for group events once a month. We also offer one-to-one sessions if you don’t feel comfortable in a group. When dealing with mental health, we understand how daunting it can be to throw yourself into a big group. I personally couldn’t have got involved with something like this when I was having my own struggles. Generally, we see one-to-ones grow more, which in turn allows them to move into a small group, and so on.
Anyone is welcome, from any background and any gender, but we primarily work with over 18s unless accompanied by a guardian. Past experience isn’t required, but it’s always good to hear of other people’s treks and climbs. Either way, we are happy to be out there with anyone.