Mountains, medals and mettle

I spent last weekend in the lovely Lake District with my climbing club friends. 

About 70 of us from the Pinnacle Club - the UK’s only rock climbing club for women - gathered in Langdale to celebrate its centenary. There was a fascinating exhibition in Sticklebarn which brought to life the experience and expeditions of the original members after the First World War, many of whom made first female ascents around the world.

Climbing can still have a bit of a macho feel these days, so can you imagine the hurdles, discouragement and prejudice that these fearless women must have faced in 1921. Women were very much a minority in the outdoors one hundred years ago, let alone climbing!

Those early female climbers were true pioneers, all pushing the boundaries with remarkable grit and guts.  The determination and resilience they must have had is inspiring. I was struck by one of the climbers quotes in the compilation film which said, “It did teach me that when you think you’ve reached the end of your endurance, you haven’t.” Given the experience of the last 18 months, we can all take something from that. We may not have had to endure exactly the same challenges as these women did, but in our own ways, we have all had to dig deep into our reserves of energy and resolve just to get through the pandemic.

We still need to show that climbing is not an elitist club for hot shot climbers, and we absolutely need to encourage more diversity as it’s still a very white activity in this country, but we’ve come a long way. A steady climb up but we’re not near the top yet. The diversity gap is not going to magically disappear, but there are lots of initiatives to encourage more ethnic groups to participate. For example, there’s a climbing group in Greater Manchester supporting BAME women called Wanderlust Women. 

And climbing is in the Olympics for first time ever, which is fantastic. 40 climbers from all around the globe will be battling it out across three climbing disciplines of speed, lead and bouldering on the world's most watched wall of the year.

Of course only a few can ever achieve the dizzy heights of Olympians, but if we want to see stories of inspiration, joy, heartbreak, determination, strength of character, disappointment and pride, there is no better source than the Olympics. It’s called the ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ for a reason and again, like the Pinnacle Club pioneers, we can be uplifted by it for our own stuff.

Just take Tom Daley for example. His victory has inspired the strongest emotions across the nation since the Olympics started. All the hope, disappointment and despair Tom had endured these past 13 years was cleansed with his wonderful Tokyo gold. His tears on the podium reflected his long march to Olympic glory - and my, how joyous we all were for him.

Life never unfolds smoothly for any of us, and the way in which Tom Daley sealed his victory with his diving partner Matty Lee, with a series of stunning and seemingly nerveless dives, spoke of his resilience and tenacity. His achievement owes much to a remarkable resolve that's also helped overcome struggles away from the pool. 

Yes, I know the pandemic has wreaked havoc on Olympians wellbeing as well as training schedules, and many medal hopes have been dashed because of the strain, but they are still an inspirational story of endurance and hope. The triumphs are proving bigger than the empty stadiums. And after so long in darkness, it’s magical to watch.

They have a set of impressive values - honesty, teamwork, respect, self-belief, passion and fortitude. And show us that, if at first you don’t succeed, you can try again and that passion can take you far if you want something enough.

We can take our own hope and inspiration for our own achievements. And, like Tom Daley, we can dig deep about things we feel strongly about with that determination burning brightly. Our achievements might not be as exceptional as an Olympic gold medal, but they are still mighty.

Best wishes

Claire

You can follow me on Twitter @ClaireMolloy2

Click here for more information about the Pinnacle Club.

The power of exercise

Here I am on one of my walks -
doing my best not to fall off!

I’m just back from a week’s holiday and feeling refreshed and reinvigorated, after a pretty full-on time moving house and ploughing through those never-ending ‘to do’ lists.

While this ‘holiday refresh’ might conjure up an image of sun-loungers, cafes and cocktails, it was actually pretty active. My kind of tonic is a week of cycling, walking and climbing (the gin is added in later!).

They say exercise is the most underused anti-depressant and it certainly works for me. It’s my stress and anxiety reliever and can change my mood, my attitude and my perspective on life.

I’m also really aware of the benefits that physical exercise can bring to our mental health and learning disability patients. Exercises, including gardening, walking and dancing, as well as jogging, swimming and cycling, have been proven to reduce anxiety and depression. We serve a vulnerable group of people, for whom their mental health and learning disability often results in very poor physical health,  and the evidence suggests that exercise can be an often-neglected intervention in improving their mental and emotional well-being.

As a specialist, expert organisation, we need to always focus on the whole person and recognise, as a minimum, the value of physical health checks and people’s access to activity. One of the many positive things our community colleagues contributed was support around physical health - they were superb in advising and supporting us with the physical health needs of our mental health and learning disability patients and service users. Now, as we re-focus as a mental health and learning disability trust, we need to remember that responsibility still remains with us.

So it’s great to hear lots of examples within the organisation of people developing their skills in supporting people’s physical health needs. For example, Heathfield House rehab unit in Stockport have recently had a sports day and football match. We also have a developing initiative called ‘Climb to Thrive’ - a volunteer club  that Reagan Blythe, who supports R&D within the Trust, has set up - which supports people to use rock climbing as a way of building purpose and confidence.

This week, I visited North Ward in Bury and heard how the staff there are supporting people with increasingly complex and demanding physical health needs. This must be challenging for mental health practitioners, who came into the service to support people in their mental health recovery journey, to find themselves having to deal with complex medical conditions. But I was impressed with how the ward are managing this, with staff developing their skills and building their relationship with acute colleagues on the Fairfield Hospital site to deliver mutual support to each other.

I was also impressed by the exercise facilities available to patients, including table tennis and snooker tables, an indoor and outdoor gym and even a five aside football pitch. It’s great that people on the unit have such good places to exercise.

I am very grateful to ward manager Nicola Kidd, who has recently taken on the role substantively, and Dr Adeola Akinola, consultant on the unit, for giving up so much of their time to show me around, and for their passion and commitment. It’s clear the ward is benefitting from their leadership and that, despite the challenges, every one there has put a lot of effort over the last few years into team development and creating a positive environment for both patients and staff.

I know all of our jobs can take their toll, both physically and mentally. So, at the risk of sounding a bit evangelical, I’m sure we can all get something from whatever exercise floats our boat.  Of course, it doesn’t have to mean running marathons or training every day at the gym, and it certainly shouldn’t be a monotonous or painful punishment. But my motto when I am not feeling motivated to move more is ‘do something, do anything but sit’. As one of the women in the brilliant This Girl Can campaign says, “I know I’m slow, but I’m lapping everyone on the couch”.

We run a ‘Couch to 5k’ programme and regularly promote things like bike schemes, gym deals, local park runs and other activities, but research also shows that leisure activities, like gardening, can be as beneficial as a workout. Of course it’s not always easy, but it’s always worth it. After all, our body is the only place we always have to live in.

Best wishes,
Claire