Nine million steps. That’s how many steps Bret Mavriik says he’s taken as he’s trekked across the country trying to raise awareness for children’s mental health.
READ MORE: Follow our Walk: 7 million steps to help children’s mental health
“There’s a lot of people that need help,” Mavriik said.
Mavriik, accompanied by his dog Nymeria, already completed a seven-million step journey from Toronto to Whistler, B.C. last year that first began in September 2015. The pair is now heading east to complete the cross-country journey, ending in St. John’s in about two months.
During the trek across Canada, Mavriik says he’s been greeted by people in the cities and towns he travels through.
“I have been greeted… by people that have come out to say, ‘thank you, I would like to offer you a shower, offer you a room,'” Mavriik told Global News.
However, the journey has not been easy. Mavriik said he and Nymeria have slept outside in the cold, often next to the highway where they’ve walked for days.
READ MORE: Ontario youth with mental illness waiting months for help, auditor general finds
But he says the struggle they face isn’t the same as what some youth and their families can go through when living with mental illness.
“The siblings, the family members… I mean, imagine a brother and a sister, imagine what their life is like, their life suffers in everything too.”
While never formally diagnosed, Mavriik said he has his own connection to mental illness.
“One thing I’ve never been able to handle, and that is what was really hard for me in school, is routine and the monotony of the routine,” he said.
READ MORE: More Canadian kids visiting ERs for mental health issues: report
Mavriik’s journey is something New Brunswick youth therapist Jason Jones supports.
According to Jones, more young people are hospitalized for mental health issues in New Brunswick than anywhere else in the country, so it can be helpful when anyone raises awareness for such an important cause.
“I think for a long time the focus has been adult mental health issues and more and more recently we’ve seen that youth suffer from these issues too,” said Jones, who works at the Atlantic Wellness Centre in Riverview, N.B.
At the completion of his journey, Mavriik said he plans to write a book about the adventure which, in addition to being a walk for the kids, has also been a healing one for himself.
“It’s probably, hopefully, a cure for my own mental health.”
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