PEEBLES is being invited to put its best foot forward next week to support mental health charities.

Walk a Mile Peebles is being organised by See Me community champion Bridget Dickson.

The aim of the event on Saturday, October 12 is to show how mental health can be a topic of everyday conversations, by getting people together for a one mile walk around the town.

Now in its third year Walk a Mile Peebles will be supported by Freda Douglas’ Depressed Cake Café in the MacFarlane Hall from 11am.

The pop-up café gives walkers the chance to chat about mental health over tea and cake.

Bridget, from Peebles, decided to organise the event after seeing the benefit talking about mental health has had on her own life.

She said: "Talking about my own mental health has without a doubt made my life easier.

“It’s amazing how, once you start being open about your own mental health challenges, so many other people will admit to similar experiences.

"Open and honest conversations are an awful lot easier when you are doing another activity, such as walking in beautiful surroundings."

The Walk a Mile campaign was created by See Me with activist Chris McCullough Young, based on his walk around the edge of Scotland, where he spoke to everyone he met about mental health, to change attitudes one conversation at a time.

So far thousands of people have taken part in Walks across Scotland, bringing together health professionals, carers, people with lived experience of mental health problems, students, or anyone who cares about tackling mental health discrimination, to break down barriers as they walk a mile in each other’s shoes.

Wendy Halliday, See Me’s interim director, said: “Mental health affects all of us, but there is still a stigma around it. To tackle this properly people need to understand that it is okay not to be okay.

“One of the best ways to change how people think and behave is to make mental health a topic in day to day conversation, rather than a taboo subject people don’t want to talk about.”

The Peebles walk will begin at 12.30pm next Saturday (October 12).

It will start at and end at the MacFarlane Hall, at the top of the High Street.

To find out more contact bridget.dickson@seemechampion.org.