LL THIS WEEK By SARAH TAYLOR
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Teacher’s 10k a day 4
ental health has been a recurring, and important, topic over the last few years. But, with the current pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, people have been affected more than ever, including a drastic effect on the mental wellbeing of children. According to the NHS Mental Health and Young People survey, there has been an increase in probable mental health disorders in five to 16-year-olds, rising from one-in-nine in 2017 to one-in-six in 2020. As well as this, 54.1% of 11 to16year-olds with a probable mental health disorder were likely to say that lockdown had made their life worse. In light of these figures, one man has decided to try and help by running ten kilometres (or six miles) every single day for a year. Phill Hayward, a primary school PE teacher from the Wirral, came up with this mammoth year-long challenge to raise funds for local mental health charity Wirral Mind, as well as to develop awareness of mental health and suicide prevention in youngsters. Currently 183 days into his challenge, he explained how it hasn’t always been plain sailing since starting: “The first ten days, maybe two weeks, I thought ‘What am I doing here?’. “My body wasn’t used to the pounding of the streets, plus I wasn’t giving myself enough recovery time. I’ve had to change my diet, change when I eat, change my lifestyle and when to go out for a run. But, mentally, it’s probably been really tough as well. “Obviously, from September, we’ve still had some nice weather, and then going into October, November, December and Christmas time, we’ve had some really cold, frosty days. We’ve had some snow, which was really difficult, as well as early nights. Coming back from work and it was dark straight away and then trying to motivate myself was pretty tough. “I’ve had no injuries as yet, and my body just seems to be getting stronger. Obviously, I’m getting used to it now and I’m learning how to recover.” Mr Hayward also explained how those following his journey have helped him.: “The reaction from children and the comments from children in the school have been really supportive, as well as my colleagues in work,” he said. “My friends and family, they’ve pushed me on every single day. Donations from people have been phenomenal, and I’m really lucky to know quite a lot of people who have spread the word for me. “It has been really overwhelming, really, as I’m quite a shy person. I can’t thank people enough for all the kindness, whether it’s encouraging words. donations, social media
