Sophia Badger is walking from London to Rome to raise funds and awareness in the face of serious tragedy.

In the summer of 2018, two of Sophia’s friends took their own lives. Now she is undertaking this mammoth challenge.

‘Their deaths came as a huge shock. It was the kind of news that you can’t quite believe, and it stops you in your tracks,’ Sophia tells Metro.co.uk.

‘You mull over the last time you saw or spoke to them and wonder if you could’ve been in touch a bit more often and been there, been available, to lend an ear. You’re left with lots of questions that will never get answered. Lots of “whys” and “what-ifs”.

(Picture: Sophia Badger)

One was a friend Sophia met at university, and the other a friend she met during a work sabbatical travelling in Central America.

The pair didn’t know each other, but they passed away about six weeks apart. Like Sophia, they were both in their mid-30s, with so much of their lives left to live.

‘Their deaths were incredibly tragic and we lost them both far too soon,’ she says.

‘Suicide produces a very challenging form of grief. You don’t really want to believe it, and you struggle to understand it. But my own experience pails into insignificance compared to that of the families of my two friends.

‘The past year has been incredibly challenging for them, day in and day out. And that will continue for the rest of their lives.’

Champagne vineyards at dawn in France (Picture: Sophia Badger)

The idea to do something substantial to honour the memory of her friends came to Sophia at the height of her grief, but it helped her realise that she needed to do something positive.

‘I was at the memorial service of one of my friends,’ says Sophia.

‘The celebrant did a fantastic job of channelling our energy away from all of those unanswerable questions to remembering the person that we had lost. Remembering her outgoing character, adventurous spirit, and charitable work, rather than the way in which she passed away.

‘Driving home after the service I was filled with the feeling that I wanted to do something to raise awareness about mental health and raise money for a mental health charity.

‘I had often given thought to doing a long walk or an overland horseback adventure, but never quite found the right time to actually commit myself to anything.

The Roman bridge in Pont Saint Martin, Italy (Picture: Sophia Badger)

‘By the time I pulled up outside my house, I had more or less decided that I was going to walk to Rome, following a medieval pilgrimage route called the Via Francigena which I’d read about a few years previously.

‘I decided that I would do it to raise money for the mental health charity Mind.’

Sophia is half Italian, so her once-in-a-lifetime walk has also been an eye-opening journey into her heritage as well. She says the trip has also been an incredible physical challenge, crossing the Alps, the Jura Mountains, and the Apennines, and walking for days through wheat and rice fields, all solo.

Tellaro, Ligurian Coast, Italy (Picture: Sophia Badger)

Sophia has already raised more than £10,000 for Mind, money that will help to change lives. But what she wants to achieve is bigger than just money.

‘I’m learning a lot about myself and the places that I pass through, and having my eyes opened by the life stories of locals and other walkers that I meet along the way.

‘Mind has told me that the money I have raised so far will allow them to answer more than 1,200 calls to their info line, which provides advice and support to people experiencing a mental health problem.

‘But raising money is just one aspect of what I hope to achieve though.

‘It’s so important that we have conversations about mental health, to open up and share our experiences and ask for help when we need it. So often we keep what’s going on with our mental health to ourselves.’

Sophia aims to use her journey to start these conversations. To let people know that it’s OK and normal to not feel OK, and that no-one needs to go through a mental health problem alone.

‘What I’ve noticed is that when someone opens up it has a domino effect,’ says Sophia. ‘It’s an amazing thing to see, suddenly people understand that they aren’t alone in the way they think or feel, and there’s a huge amount of comfort they take from hearing someone else’s story.’

The village of Lods in the Jura Mountains (Picture: Sophia Badger)

Before embarking on her walk, Sophia also visited a number of huge companies including Google, O2, GoCompare and Shell, to help them start those conversations and to raise awareness about mental health both inside and outside the workplace.

‘Mental health is something that we all have, every day, just like physical health. It’s not something to be scared of, and it’s something that we should all feel comfortable and capable of talking about in the same way that we talk about our physical health.

‘Historically there has been a lot of stigma around mental illness, which has made this incredibly challenging.

‘That’s changing, and we’re in the midst of a huge movement to raise awareness and start those all-important conversations that will help to normalise mental health problems. But there is still some way to go.

One in four people experience a mental health problem each year, but so many people find it difficult to talk about. That’s what Sophia is hoping to address.

Views across Lake Geneva (Picture: Sophia Badger)

‘Sometimes you can see the look on someone’s face drop when you say the words “mental health”, she says.

‘That might be because they’re uncomfortable talking about it, or they don’t understand it, or they have certain preconceived ideas about it.

‘Poor mental health is all around us, and the people experiencing that poor mental health need others to be understanding, to provide support systems, and to not make them feel isolated and alone.’

Need support?

For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.

If you're a young person, or concerned about a young person, you can also contact PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide UK. Their HOPELINK digital support platform is open 24/7, or you can call 0800 068 4141, text 07860039967 or email: pat@papyrus-uk.org between the hours of 9am and midnight.

To fund her trip, Sophia has been using Airsorted to rent her flat our while she is away, which takes care of her rent and her bills and allows her to focus on raising vital funds.

‘I’ve been walking for three months now, and it hasn’t been cheap,’ she explains. ‘Every penny that people donate goes directly to Mind and doesn’t fund my walk in any way. And that’s as it should be.

‘Without Airsorted I don’t think I would’ve been in a position to do the walk, so using their services has been a real game-changer.’

Sophia is due to reach her final destination Rome in the next couple of weeks.

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