A Dartmouth man has walked almost 600 km for mental health awareness, much of that in the Quad Counties.
Darren Rooney left Dartmouth in July, over 22 days, he hiked the Trans Canada Trail up through Antigonish Co. and Inverness Co.
He ended his 567 km Thru-Hiking for Mental Health Awareness trek in Inverness Aug. 6.
Rooney tells The Hawk he got the idea stuck in his head after watching videos online.
“Hiking’s good for your wellbeing, mentally and whatnot, so the idea kind of latched on,” he says. “It quickly morphed into getting people involved online and raising awareness for mental health issues.”
Rooney says hiking is a natural antidepressant, and that made it an obvious choice to raise awareness for mental health issues while working on his own.
He says he didn’t set a goal for his awareness campaign.
“I got a lot of positive feedback, I met a lot of nice people along the way, I had some good positive conversations with some people,” he says. “And I think I actually helped a few people while I was out there.”
Rooney says he feels like he’s really accomplished something.
