Local mental health advocate Lisa Sugarman attended the Recreation and Parks Commission meeting Tuesday night to promote the Walk Talk Collective, an event she recently launched to encourage people to come together for an early morning walk and engage in meaningful mental health conversations.
As a crisis counselor for the LGBTQ+ youth hotline The Trevor Project, Sugarman had always felt strongly about encouraging others to have those difficult conversations surrounding mental health. However, she wanted to take it to the next step and involve the community further.
“I had an idea to kind of marry our physical well-being with our emotional well-being and mental health,” Sugarman said. “And the way to do that, I think, that would be most applicable to everybody, is walking, because most people want to talk and if they have a safe space where they can do that, they can be open and honest.”
Sugarman started the Walk Talk Collective for local communities to participate in. Now in collaboration with the Recreation and Parks commission as part of their programing, the event is growing in size and gaining more traction.
“Moving at 6:30 in the morning until 7:30, we’re just walking,” Sugarman said. “Hopefully as it gets bigger, people can break into different walking groups and have smaller side conversations.”
Sugarman said she had discussed her initiative with the Mental Health Task force and they now would like to be involved with the Walk Talk collective.
“I’m actually going to their meeting next week because they very much want to either partner, sponsor, support, somehow get involved and back this,” Sugarman said. “They love the idea of doing this and amplifying it more through their channels and their group.”
Sugarman does not want to target any specific age group, as a a large theme of the walk is inclusivity.
“As this kind of thing grows organically and evolves, the population of the community grows and evolves,” Sugarman said.
In the future, Sugarman hopes to involve licensed mental health professionals that can participate in the walk and talk to those that may need a little extra support. Additionally, she hopes to add on an additional walking session in the afternoon, for those that are unable to join in the morning.
The Walk Talk Collective takes place on Monday’s at 6:30 a.m. at Marblehead High School. All are invited to participate.