‘After I opened up online about my dad’s lived experience, a lot of people started reaching out. They thanked me for sharing, they told me their stories. It started a lot of conversations — and that’s really what we wanted to keep going’
Rooted is all about the people and the places that make us proud to call our community home.
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It started, as so many good ideas do, with a conversation on the trail.
Sully Sullivan and Mike McDonough were driving to yet another early-morning run when their talk turned to doing something more about advocating for mental health awareness.
“How could we incorporate that with running?” Sullivan said. “We started chatting about this race — QMT (Quebec Mega Trail) — that we were training for. Some ideas came on the trail about doing the bigger distance and trying to raise money. Then we brought Nick and Jay into the fold. From there, it just kind of grew organically.”
What started as two friends with an idea has evolved into Chasing Clarity — a North Bay-based running community built around connection, conversation, and breaking down stigma around mental health.
But Sullivan doesn’t see it as a traditional running club.
“I don’t necessarily consider Chasing Clarity a running club per se,” he said. “We’re part of other groups that enjoy running, but this is more about doing something out of our comfort zone while raising awareness and keeping conversations going. People living with mental health challenges do that every day — this is our way of helping to promote that.”
For McDonough, those early morning runs were already something special before they had a name.
“We had this growing group of people coming together at ridiculous hours in the morning,” McDonough said. “It was a chance for friends to get together and talk about what’s going on in their lives. You could feel that we were onto something. People came for the runs, but they stayed because it was a great group of caring, open people.”
And when Sullivan began to share his own story publicly — including the loss of his father to suicide in 2018 — the meaning behind Chasing Clarity deepened.
“After I opened up online about my dad’s lived experience, a lot of people started reaching out,” Sullivan said. “They thanked me for sharing, and they told me their stories. It started a lot of conversations — and that’s really what we wanted to keep going.”
When firefighter Nick Allen joined, he says it immediately filled a gap he hadn’t realized was missing.
“I’ve always been a big runner, but I used to do it by myself,” Allen said. “When I started joining these guys, I realized what I was missing — that community piece. We always say we go for runs, but it’s not about the running. It’s about allowing people to show up as they are and have those meaningful conversations.”
For the members of Chasing Clarity, running has become about much more than fitness. The miles on the trail are often secondary to the conversations that happen along the way.
“For me personally, it’s just to know that people are out there talking,” said Jason Chirico. “We don’t need to be running. We meet at the brewery in the morning for anybody who wants to walk, jog, or run with us, and it’s just about bringing people together to talk. Some of my best conversations of the week are with these guys and the broader community. There’s no barriers—nothing we can’t talk about.”
That open-door, no-judgment approach has become the foundation of Chasing Clarity.
“I think the main mission is to keep conversation going and to raise money for Chat for Chad, which we keep promoting,” Sullivan said. “And with this whole running thing, the vast majority of what keeps us pushing to those limits—the training, the endurance, the recovery—those same things are important with mental health. Community, rest, sleep, proper nutrition… it all connects.”
Chasing Clarity’s members have tied their efforts closely with the Chat for Chad foundation, a North Bay-based organization focused on supporting mental health initiatives. Their fundraising is ongoing, Sullivan noted, with donations linked through the group’s social media and periodic events hosted in partnership with Gateway City Brewery.
“It’s all year round,” he said. “We’ve done fundraisers at the brewery, we’re planning more content and events, and in January, we’ll do another big push as we start training for the QMT.”
Seeing the community’s response, Sullivan said, has been emotional.
“For me, it’s super heartwarming,” he shared. “Mental health services are still underfunded, and there’s so much work to do. But to see the community step up the way it has—like at this year’s Chat for Chad gala—was incredible. Nick got us a table, and we were there to see it firsthand. It was quite emotional to witness how much support there is for the cause and how many people are honouring Chad by helping others get the support they need.”
The gala raised more than $500,000 in 2025, more than doubling the 2024 event.
“Just seeing that evening, you see clearly how much mental health affects everyone,” said Chirico, reflecting on the most recent event. “The whole community is out and supporting. Throughout the whole journey leading up to the race, I was brought to tears multiple times from people reaching out, donating money, or just wishing us good luck. One night, we were all at the brewery after a run, and someone came up to Sully to tell him how much his post had affected him. It’s overwhelming to see that kind of support — both for Chat for Chad and for Chasing Clarity.”
McDonough says that the outpouring of encouragement shows not only how much people care, but how much they’ve needed something like this.
“I think people are looking for these outlets,” he said. “I’m not sure what was happening in our community before Chat for Chad was founded, but they created this organization that raises money, and people show up. There’s obviously a need for it. The community gets it. And I think what Sully’s done with Chasing Clarity is another one of those outlets. He’s created something through running and fitness that’s going to capture a lot of people — and we need more of these things.”
Allen agrees that these conversations are long overdue — and that initiatives like Chat for Chad and Chasing Clarity are permitting people to finally have them.
“There was obviously some sort of gap that Chat for Chad really filled in our community around creating awareness about mental health and suicide,” Allen said. “I’ve been to a lot of the talks Wade Ringler gives, and before or after every talk, there’s always someone coming up to share their story or their struggles. That’s the beautiful part — these events are giving people a place to start the difficult conversations they might not feel comfortable having otherwise.”
As Chasing Clarity continues to grow, its mission remains the same: keep people talking, moving, and supporting one another.
“If anyone wants to join, they’re welcome,” Chirico said. “We meet at the brewery at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays — anyone can come out, whether you walk, jog, or run, even as the weather cools, this group still meets all year long.
Sullivan said that openness is what’s helped the group thrive.
“It’s really important for everyone to know that this group is growing and it’s big,” he said. “This is just a few of the guys that did that long, crazy race — but there are people of all interest levels in running. It’s not just us. It’s a community.”
Chirico smiled when asked how big that community has become.
“Broadly, I’d say around 25 people,” he said. “But if you count everyone helping out — we’re closer to 40 or 50.”
For a group that started with early-morning trail runs and an idea to spark conversation, Chasing Clarity has become a reminder that connection, compassion, and community can begin one step and one story at a time.
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