Setting up a mental health charity

In this series, project managers tell us how they’re using their skills for a personal project. Here, Andrew Higson, a project manager at Balvac (part of Balfour Beatty) and a keen mountaineer, tells us how he established Blackdog Outdoors, a voluntary charity set up to promote the benefits of outdoor recreation for improved mental health

The Blackdog Outdoors project was devised as all good things often are… in the pub! Outside of work I’m an avid mountaineer, having qualified as a summer mountain leader and navigation tutor, and have spent time in the Alps and further afield on high-altitude mountains. In July 2018, I climbed Mount Elbrus (Russia, 5,642m) two months after completing a Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) qualification with work. Conversation in mountain huts is initially scatological, but after we stopped talking about bodily functions, we got onto the subject of why we were all there.

The majority of the team recognised mountaineering, and generally being outdoors, as our personal therapy. The challenge, isolation and escape from a fast-paced life were felt to be good for our individual mental health. So, how could I use my skills as a project manager and my passion for mountaineering and the outdoors to help other people realise these benefits?

I considered this on my flight home and discovered that there are many academic papers on the subject. The research shows that the benefits of outdoor activities include improved mood and self-esteem, and reduced stress. I researched mental health websites for inspiration and observed that there are many organisations promoting mental health support, and many promoting the outdoors, but few promoting the link between both. How could I highlight that link with a format that is readily accessible?

Kicking off with the basics

Simple. I would create a website with the objective of promoting the mental and physical benefits of outdoor recreation. As a starting point I reverted to my APM training, in particular the ‘five Ws’ and the ‘two Hs’:

How will I make it happen? I’d need to bring together a team of friends who, like me, are passionate about outdoor recreation and improved mental health. I assigned each of the team a role and, following a workshop, we developed a plan of what content the website should contain.
What do I want the website to contain? The website would be informative, act as a central hub of information (on safety, insurance, tips on clothing, etc) and signpost people to mental health support groups should the need arise.
Why will people benefit from this information and what are the expected outcomes? The website will give people the information to access the outdoors confidently and to seek opportunities to improve their skills and competence.
Whom do I want to promote the website to? It should be accessible for all who are interested in heading outdoors, from novices to the more experienced.
Where will I find those people? We would promote the website via social media linked to a communications plan and strategy, with regular press releases.
When do I want the website to go live? I set an ambitious target of having a live website by the end of 2018 – only four months from conception to implementation.
How much will it cost? The website work was gifted to us as a donation by Berri (www.berri.co.uk), which mitigated set-up costs. The team agreed to manage the site content and social media on a voluntary basis.

In November 2018, after only three months of work, we launched www.blackdogoutdoors.co.uk with all the information that people could need to head outdoors, or so we thought. My experience as a project manager has taught me that a plan, once implemented, should be monitored to ensure that it works. I sought initial feedback from some of the website users, which was generally positive and confirmed that the website and our social media releases sent a powerful message. However, as with anything in life, there are always lessons to be learned.

Help, I’m lost! And where’s the loo?

Our first real lesson was that we hadn’t fully considered the barriers that may exist with our target audience. As the website became more popular, we started to receive feedback that, although the information was useful, anxiety (among other conditions) made it difficult for some people to use it themselves. There were concerns that ranged from a fear of getting lost to how to go to the toilet in the great outdoors.

This presented us with a new challenge, so I revisited the original outline (business case) for the project and convened a team meeting. That meeting, again using the five Ws and two Hs as an outline framework, resulted in a fantastic plan. We would facilitate an annual walking event for those whose mental health acted as a barrier to them getting outside and, best of all, it would be free to attend.

I started planning in January 2019 with the aim of holding an event for 30 people in the Peak District that April. We enlisted the voluntary support of local qualified mountain leaders and mental health first-aiders. We also reached out to the British Mountaineering Council and received an amazing level of support, which included insurance for the event.

We now needed to consider safeguarding and how to make the event appeal to our target audience, which included producing a flyer and setting up social media event pages to confirm that the event would be managed by qualified outdoor professionals and supported by MHFA-qualified people. We also asked interested attendees to complete a booking form listing pertinent medical issues to help us support them on the day, and issued specific instructions on where and when to meet, how the day would unfold, and what clothing, equipment and food to bring.

All our attendees had to do was get themselves to the starting point, and they did just that, much to our relief. This inaugural event was attended in full, and the immediate feedback was encouraging. So encouraging, in fact, that we started to talk about more events, which presented a further challenge. How would a small core of volunteers, with work and family commitments, be able to facilitate free events on a more frequent basis? I needed another plan, so it was back to the pub!

I drafted a governing document that was signed by the six Blackdog Outdoors members (at the time) as trustees in the summer of 2019. I drew up a plan and a revised organisational structure that over the remainder of the year resulted in the team recruiting voluntary staff to fill some of the new roles. We also developed a training matrix for the team, raised funds through crowd-funding to cover overheads and training requirements, created a network of qualified volunteers to support events, and established a stakeholder management plan, which has led to strong, mutually supportive relationships with the British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Scotland, Mountain Training, the Mountain Training Association and Trail magazine’s ‘Mountains for the Mind’ team.

We also established and implemented a GDPR policy, emergency procedures and risk assessments for events, strengthened our credibility as an organisation by signing up to MIND’s Mental Health Charter, and held a further eight events (all free to attend) throughout 2019.

Realising the benefits

With all this in place, what did I expect success to look like, and how would I know that the expected benefits were being realised? My core aim has always been to promote the benefits of outdoor activity on mental health. However, the impact on attendees will vary depending on many factors, such as personality and existing conditions. The success criteria would need to be a demonstrable improvement of mental health/wellbeing based on the individual.

To this end, I developed an anonymous feedback survey with questions linked to existing academic research. These questions provide us with a baseline of the attendee’s general mood before and after an event – for example, were they happier, more confident and less stressed after the event than before it? The survey responses (to date) give us demonstrable evidence that our work has a positive impact. Our statistics show that 71 per cent of attendees find our events to be a release from everyday worries; 85 per cent say that the events allow them to connect better with others; and 57 per cent left the event with a feeling of accomplishment.

Where are we now? In early 2020 I applied to the Charity Commission for full charitable status. This was granted, meaning we are now a registered charity. We’re all excited about that and hopefully it will open some more doors for us.

In addition, to support further expansion, we have taken on additional voluntary staff to provide monthly walking events across the whole of the UK to support ‘Mountains for the Mind’; paddle-sport events with support from British Canoeing-affiliated clubs; outdoor climbing events in collaboration with ‘Climb Alongside Mental Health’; and navigation and hill skills courses with support from Mountain Training.

Where are we going?

At the time of writing, we have held four walking events and one paddle-sport event so far in 2020. However, our remaining events are currently on hold due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. We are using this time to look ahead to 2021, which includes tentative plans to introduce cycling and horse-riding events. This will require another organisational restructure, another plan and, following lockdown, another trip to the pub!