{"id":584786,"date":"2026-08-14T19:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/584786\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T19:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T19:24:18","slug":"mental-health-campaigner-in-greater-manchester-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/584786\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental health campaigner in Greater Manchester challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Sam Layton will begin the challenge on September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, travelling through all 10 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burytimes.co.uk\/local-news\/greater-manchester-news\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Greater Manchester<\/a> boroughs over six days while pushing the unusual creation, a symbol of the struggles many people face with depression.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The &#8220;black dog,&#8221; a term often used as a metaphor for depression, was created from a former coin-operated children&#8217;s ride.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The mechanics were removed and the structure mounted onto a trolley so it can accompany Sam throughout the journey.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The challenge is aimed at raising awareness of suicide and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burytimes.co.uk\/topics\/mental-health-and-wellbeing\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">mental health<\/a> issues affecting young people, while also fundraising for Support For Us, a new charity being launched to provide <a href=\"http:\/\/www.burytimes.co.uk\/jobs?ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">training<\/a> and resources focused on youth mental health.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  For Sam, the cause is deeply personal.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Drawing on his own experiences of depression and suicidal thoughts as a teenager, he hopes the walk will encourage more open conversations about mental health and help improve support available to young people.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: &#8220;Through my own lived experience of depression and thoughts of suicide as a teenager, raising awareness and improving the services provided for young people experiencing mental health issues is a subject I am passionate about.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The route will see him pass through several towns across the region, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burytimes.co.uk\/local-news\/bolton-news\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bolton<\/a> on day one and Bury on day two.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  On the third day, he will travel through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.burytimes.co.uk\/news\/bury_news\/?ref=ed_direct\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Bury<\/a> before heading through Heywood and Rochdale to Oldham.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The following day he will continue from Oldham through Ashton-under-Lyne and on to Stockport, before travelling through Didsbury to Trafford on day five.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  The challenge concludes on day six with a route from Trafford through Manchester and into Salford.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Alongside the walk itself, Sam plans to share mental health content throughout the six-day challenge in a bid to spark discussion and raise awareness of the issues facing young people.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  World Suicide Prevention Day is observed annually to encourage action to reduce stigma around mental health and suicide, while promoting support for those who may be struggling.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  By taking the black dog across Greater Manchester, Sam hopes his journey will serve as a visible reminder that people experiencing depression are not alone and that help and support are available.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Those wishing to support the campaign will be able to follow Sam&#8217;s progress as he makes his way through Bury, Bolton, Oldham, Trafford and the wider Greater Manchester region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Layton will begin the challenge on September 10, World Suicide Prevention Day, travelling through all 10 Greater&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584787,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[163,85,46,522,523],"class_list":["post-584786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584786\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}