Offaly man to hike from Paris to Rome for mental health charity

Offaly's Caolan Kelly is getting ready for a six-week, 1,500km hike across central Europe - from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Colosseum in Rome - in aid of the mental health charity Jigsaw.

The Lusmagh man will be undertaking the challenge from August 1, after considering it for several months.

He explained that he had his own mental health battle for many years and hopes to help others by raising awareness of mental health issues in Ireland and raising funds for additional supports.

Speaking to the Offaly Independent, Caolan said more could be done to improve the narrative around mental health in Ireland.

“My goal is to help break the stigma surrounding mental health. It’s completely normal to have bad days, and you don’t have to bottle things up either,” he explained.

“There are fantastic services like Jigsaw that can help you massively. A problem shared is a problem halved.

“I think there are so many people out there that were in a situation that I was once in, feeling kind of lost, feeling alone, feeling isolated, and kind of feeling like they have no purpose in life and that they don’t really know how to make a change.”

He said he knows what it’s like to struggle silently, feeling trapped and alone. Caolan said his mental health improved when he completely changed his lifestyle, stopped drinking, and made a change in his work life.

“I just started kind of trying to figure out what my values are, what excites me, and what I want to do with my life,” he stated.

Caolan said the catalyst for undertaking the hike was giving up alcohol at the start of the year, after it had been a central part of his lifestyle.

“I was just living for the weekend. I would be miserable and work nine to five, Monday to Friday, and the weekend would come and I was just trying to numb everything, escape my reality through drinking and through going out every weekend.”

The former Banagher College student said he wanted to do something big to challenge himself this year and to raise money for Jigsaw, a charity very close to his heart.

He realised that it was all about “capturing attention” when deciding what kind of a fundraiser he would do.

“That is why I went big and I went for arguably the two biggest landmarks, or best-known landmarks, in Europe.”

The local man is the son of Gabriel and Pauline Kelly, from Lusmagh and Gweedore in Donegal respectively.

Caolan loves adventures and the outdoors, and has been training by hiking various mountains across the country. “I was always into health and fitness, even though I was drinking a lot. I was always big into the gym, big into sport,” he remarked.

“But at the same time I guess giving up the drink was a massive challenge but then I overcame it and when you kind of face your fears, you realise they’re not that scary after all and you’re a lot more capable than you think.”

Caolan is looking forward to starting the hike on August 1 and said he “can’t wait to get going”. He first thought about undertaking the fundraiser last February.

“I just think the entire trip from start to finish is going to be amazing, heading through the French countryside and then through the Swiss Alps as well, and then the whole way to Rome,” exclaimed Caolan.

He also feels there’s a lot of personal growth to be attained throughout this trip.

“I’d just love to be able to help as many other people as I can by using the challenge as a vehicle to kind of normalise mental health, to encourage people to seek support and to reach out for help in any shape or form,” said Caolan.

In addition to the fundraiser, Caolan will be releasing a weekly podcast episode throughout the hike. You can listen to ‘The Journey w/ Caolan Kelly’ on Spotify.

The theme of the podcast is to push the boundaries of our potential in the limited time we are given.

The University of Galway graduate also plans to post daily on social media to give people an idea of what the hike is like.

Caolan is hoping to reach a target of €5,000 for Jigsaw, with €1,290 raised at the time of writing. To donate to the fundraiser visit: www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/CaolanKelly.

You can keep up with Caolan’s hike on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter (@kelly_caolan).