Julia O’Keefe knows the therapeutic value in taking small steps to effect big change.

For the past four years the Gerroa woman has signed up for the Black Dog Institute’s annual walk to raise funds and awareness of mental health and the supports available.

The Institute’s One Foot Forward walk, held throughout October, is a way for communities to come together and show their support for those living with mental ill health, while also raising funds for Black Dog to improve national services.

Most people know someone experiencing mental illness, or experience it themselves at some point in their life, with 1 in 5 Australians living with a mental illness.

According to the Black Dog Institute, of the five million Australians experiencing mental ill health, half won’t seek professional help and this can have a devastating impact on not only those living with it, but those around them.

“I originally started walking for One Foot Forward in 2021,” explains Julia.

“We had a few tragedies happen within our local community and I started doing it as a way to quietly show my support for those people affected and to raise money for mental health education and support services.”

The first year Julia walked in One Foot Forward she set herself a goal to cover 200km throughout October and raise more than $1500.

Each year she has increased her goal by 100km and last year she raised a whopping $5499.

“This year, I’ve set myself my biggest goal yet – to walk 600km and raise $10,000 to put ground-breaking new mental health treatment, education, and digital services into the hands of the people who need them most.”

Julia knows first-hand the difference mental health support services can have on those feeling the "black dog”, a term famously used by Winston Churchill to describe his own experiences with periods of severe sadness and low mood.

“I suffer with anxiety and I found that by participating in One Foot Forward each year, it gives me purpose, a fresh perspective and a feeling of community joy, strength and resilience,” says Julia.

“One of the not so joyous parts about anxiety is that you never know exactly when it is going to hit or how hard.

“But what I have realised over the years of participating is that through talking about it and reducing the stigma and silence around mental health, we also reduce its power to take over.

“We can let others know that ‘it’s OK not to be OK, you aren’t the only one’ and that there are organisations you can go to for support and education.”

Julia says having resources, training and education available to everyone, through Black Dog’s digital platform, is “absolutely life changing, that’s why I love supporting this charity".

Over the four years participating in One Foot Forward Julia has covered 1400km, the equivalent of walking from Gerroa to Bundaberg in Queensland, and raised over $13,500.

This year Julia will include an ambitious 24-hour walk, covering 100km, as part of her goal to increase funding and support for Black Dog Institute’s crucial mental health research, education, and digital services.

“It surprises me every year how many people say to me when I start to talk about my anxiety that they would never imagine that I would struggle with mental health, because I’m so happy,” says Julia.

“But mental health struggles don't discriminate and we all have experience of it, it's just about where on the continuum we are sitting at any point in time.”

If you see Julia pounding the pavement with her dalmatian Murray throughout October give her a shout out, or better yet donate through her fundraising page https://www.onefootforward.org.au/fundraisers/juliaokeefe.