Adam Prudhomme
Editor
On May 19 Greg McPherson will begin a 12 day walk from Niagara Falls to Ottawa in memory of those who have lost their lives due to a mental health illness or addiction.
His journey, known as On The Road For Mental Health, will see him pass through several communities along the way, including Greater Napanee, projected to be on May 27.
“The walk is to bring awareness to the mental health and overdose crisis,” McPherson told the Beaver. “We’re not waiting for a tragedy to happen such as what’s happening in Belleville. Niagara Falls last year declared a state of emergency. Kingston declared a state of emergency last year and Belleville just recently. This is something that’s becoming more commonplace.”
The date and starting point of the walk are both very significant. His first step will be from the exact spot in Niagara Falls that his late son Aric took a selfie on May 19, 2018, expressing a message of hope after seemingly turning a corner in his battle with mental health and drug addiction. Sadly, on Jan. 6, 2019, Greg received a call his son Aric had fatally overdosed.
“Our family in 2019 were tragically brought into this situation,” said Greg. “There’s nothing we can do to bring our son back but I want to do whatever I can to help other families not end up where we are. It’s something I live with every day. Some days I have to give 150 per cent just to get 70 per cent of myself. But I’ve got three living children that are just amazing kids and I was to stand up and be an example to them.”
Walking was one of the ways that helped Greg process the grief of losing his son, so it naturally became his method for shining light on the issue.
Greg hopes his walk will raise hope, awareness and funds for those going through battles with mental health and addiction.
Though his walk has been planned for quite some time-and he’s completed similar fundraising walks in 2022 and ‘23, the issue is a timely one for this part of the province. Last month Belleville emergency crews responded to 17 overdose calls in a span of 24 hours.
“It’s to give hope to those that are fighting now and let families know they’re not alone,” said Greg. “There’s so many people sitting in the shadows feeling the grief.”
Another purpose of the trek is to encourage others to show sympathy, not judgement, to those battling their demons.
“The stigma is still very strong,” said Greg. “You look at newspaper articles when people overdose and I try not to look at comments because it brings out the worst in people. But the recent crisis in Belleville, if you look at some of the comments concerning that, you have comments such as ‘it takes care of itself.’ It’s just terrible that people can think of another human being like that. All those people that are overdosing, all the people that are dying, they have families. This doesn’t just affect them, it affects so many people.”
Greg will track the progress of his 600 km walk in real time on his website https://otr4mentalhealth.com/. He hopes others will join him in the walk, even if its just for a couple of kilometres along the way. He’s also lined up meetings with a handful of local politicians in the various communities to help spread his message.
He’s scheduled to arrive in Stittsville on May 31. The next day he’ll walk to Ottawa City Hall, hoping to be joined by others as he looks to confront the stigma surrounding the mental health and toxic drug crisis.