Mental health charity boss Matthew Smith is halfway through a mammoth run of almost 300 miles from County Durham to Downing Street as he urges the next Prime Minister to ensure suicide prevention in the North is a Levelling Up priority.
Matthew's family founded If U Care Share in the aftermath of brother Daniel O'Hare's sudden death 17 years ago. After formally becoming a charity, it has expanded over more than a decade and works to deliver suicide prevention support, mental health awareness, and help for those bereaved by suicide.
The 289-mile route will take Matthew 11 days, as he runs more than a marathon each day through England. He will reach Downing Street on Wednesday next week, two days after the announcement of who will become the next Prime Minister. He's also looking to raise £25,000 - and is supported by organisations including the Steve Morgan Foundation.
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On arrival, Matthew will deliver a letter outlining how he wants to see mental health prioritising as part of the Levelling Up agenda. He told ChronicleLive that this was just as vital, if not more so, than new infrastructure. He said: "It's been tough. I have done runs before but not to this extent! I've done a couple of marathons, but not on consecutive days - I'm now onto my fifth. At the minute to be honest I'm just focussing on one step in front of the other. For all the physical pain it's worth it for the impact we can make."
The North East has long had worrying suicide rates - in our region, according to data from September 2021, the region had a rate of 13.3 deaths by suicide per 100,000 population. Matthew wants to see Levelling Up take this into account - and said improving suicide prevention would help regions of the North grow.
"Simply, all we want to do is the acknowledgement that that mental health really needs to be at the forefront. I'm of the view that we can invest all this money into Levelling Up and into building up the North with more infrastructure and more opportunities - but if the people aren't there to take those jobs and inhabit those buildings then what have you got?
"We're not going in with a big stick - we want to ensure this is prioritised and we want to help. We're the organisations on the ground dealing with this day-to-day."
Matthew has been joined for sections of the run by supporters and friends, who have often shared their own experiences of mental health and memories of lost loved ones with him. He said: "The support has been absolutely top drawer. As well as running with me, people have been sharing their experiences. That's been incredibly important to me, it's why I wanted to run with all the names on my top."
Matthew is running wearing a shirt featuring the names of 183 people to have died by suicide - including Caroline Flack and Gary Speed. Matthew will be delivering a letter calling for suicide prevention to be included in the Levelling Up White Paper. This letter has also been co-signed by representatives from charities Samaritans, Beyond, Chasing the Stigma, PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide, James’ Place.
Earlier in the year, in response to Matthew's plan to run to Downing Street, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Every suicide is a tragedy, which is why we are investing £57m in suicide prevention through the NHS Long Term Plan." We’ve launched a call for evidence to ask for views from the public, including those who have lived with experience of mental health conditions."
The Government has also said its "call for evidence" around mental health, which closed in early July "will help to inform a new 10-year plan to level up mental health and the development of a refreshed national suicide prevention plan". In 2021-2022, the DHSC said there had been £4m made available for voluntary and community sector organisations delivering suicide prevention services.
To support Matthew's fundraising, see totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/longtimerunning
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