{"id":653884,"date":"2026-08-24T13:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653884\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:40:13","slug":"after-battling-bipolar-disorder-depression-and-addiction-man-arrives-in-belfast-during-4800km-trek-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/653884\/","title":{"rendered":"After battling bipolar disorder, depression and addiction, man arrives in Belfast during 4,800km trek \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

After surviving bipolar disorder, depression and addiction, one man is walking more than 4,800 kilometres across the UK and Ireland to encourage people to talk about their mental health.<\/a><\/p>\n

Seven months into the challenge, Jonathan Kemp arrived in Belfast<\/a> after setting off from the Shetland Islands on New Year\u2019s Day. He began the Northern Ireland leg of his journey in Derry earlier this month, travelling through Coleraine, Magherafelt, Ballymena, Larne and Carrickfergus before reaching Belfast on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Jonathan will walk a further 380 kilometres across Northern Ireland<\/a> in support of charities, including depression charity AWARE NI, before continuing to Galway, where he is expected to complete the challenge in October.<\/p>\n

\"AfterOne man is walking more than 4,800 kilometres across the UK and Ireland to encourage people to talk about their mental health<\/p>\n

PICTURE: BRIAN LINCOLN <\/p>\n

Speaking to The Irish News<\/a>, he said his goal is to speak with eight strangers every day and use those conversations to break down stigma around mental health.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>\"How<\/a>\"JonathanJonathan crossing over the Peace Bridge in Derry on his walk to Dungiven <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a long history of my own personal challenges with mental health. By the age of seven, I wish I hadn\u2019t been born. It was sufficiently bad for me to feel that way. By the time I left school at 18, I\u2019d poor exam results. I was convinced I was stupid because of the dyslexia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t get help until my late thirties. I tried religion, exercise, diet, changing jobs, learning languages. I thought it was an external problem. Only when I was on my knees with no other options, did I then go and see a therapist, which makes no sense now, because that should be the first port of call.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, it\u2019s not an effort to live, breathe. The interference I\u2019d sort of constantly had in my head, which was often nonstop, all that\u2019s gone. It\u2019s been that way for about three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe first day of the walk in Haroldswick, North Shetland. Jonathan walked through horizontal rain and gale force winds <\/p>\n

Mr Kemp said the support and stories shared by people he has met along the route have helped keep him motivated.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019ve had a few incidences where I have met people, and it has been too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. I call them special moments. I had one here in Ireland when I bumped into a farmer. Those moments will stay with me always.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people have just been really friendly and welcoming. The friendliness has gone up two notches since I\u2019ve been here. It\u2019s really noticeable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other amazing thing here, it\u2019s just the green. It is so green. Grass, the trees, it\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JonathanJonathan in Shetland where he was met with unusually heavy snow fall <\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cIf people find getting through each day is an effort, I\u2019d recommend seeing a doctor first. Having a diagnosis can be invaluable because it helps people access support, information and peer groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karen Gallagher, Head of Fundraising at AWARE NI, said: \u201cJonathan\u2019s challenge is extraordinary, but the conversations he\u2019s creating are what really matter. Every day at AWARE we see how powerful it can be when someone feels able to say they\u2019re struggling. By sharing his own experiences so openly, Jonathan is helping more people realise they don\u2019t have to face mental health challenges alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonathan is offering a free complimentary copy of his memoir, Finding Peace of Mind Walk Official<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After surviving bipolar disorder, depression and addiction, one man is walking more than 4,800 kilometres across the UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[276],"tags":[663,3121,18,12471,135,19,17,167,502],"class_list":["post-653884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-belfast","tag-charity","tag-eire","tag-fundraiser","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117150772600341155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}