Chris's story: Shout helped me through my darkest moments - now I'm scaling mountains to fundraise
Content note: This piece includes personal experiences of suicide and crisis. Please take care when reading.
Chris reached out to Shout in crisis, and since then he’s been raising awareness and fundraising for Shout through his heroic efforts to scale the tallest mountains in the world.
Chris reached a Crisis point in 2021, after coming home from Military tour, he went through an unexpected breakup, which left him in a dark place. He didn’t feel like he could reach out to anyone close to him, so he turned to Google and found Shout.
“The volunteer I was messaging - it was an actual person, not a chatbot - asked me when I was going to kill myself. It kind of snapped me out of it and brought me back to earth.”
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I couldn't talk to friends or family without fear of stigma, being described as crying out for attention, or being told to man up. So I Googled. And I found Shout 85258.
Chris found writing down what was going on in his head more helpful than talking, and pursued a combination of journaling and counselling until he felt stronger.
During this time, he realised how helpful physical exercise was for his mental health.
“My attitude is just better when I’ve been for a run and in mountaineering there are times you need to be 100 percent present because you are literally holding on for dear life.”
How fundraising for Shout helped Chris’s mental health
Being outside doing physical exercise brought Chris a lot of joy. He had already run multiple marathons, and believed fundraising for Shout needed to be something bigger and more of a challenge for him.
It was during his first trip climbing to Everest basecamp with 14 other people, long walks with no phones meant meaningful conversations helped Chris see a new perspective.. One of the people hiking alongside Chris was a man doing basecamp in memory of his friend who had recently lost his life to suicide.
“Being in the mountains, releasing endorphins, embracing the adventure - all excellent for mental health development.”
It was after this experience that Chris decided to climb the world’s tallest peaks to raise awareness of Shout and fundraise for the service that saved his life.
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There are guys out there struggling, so by posting about my activities and at the same time talking openly about mental wellbeing I hope it will help people
Support him on his next adventure
In July 2026, Chris will be attempting Mont Blanc (4,807m) for the second time to raise funds for Shout. This will be the third mountaineering challenge he’s done to fundraise for the Shout service, and each one still helps with his mental health.
If you’re inspired by Chris story - you can donate here.
