Community in Focus: Mental Health Swims
Swimming with others has been shown to improve the social skills in children, but we still know very little about how it improves the social wellbeing in adulthood.
Over the years of building Run Talk Run I have been extraordinarily lucky to meet other extremely passionate community leaders who care just as much as I do about the urgent need for more inclusive spaces.
Rachel Ashe is one of those leaders who carries her zeal for accessible open water swimming wherever she goes. She is the Founder of the incredible open water swimming community Mental Health Swims; a swim community that has grown from just one peer support group in 2019 to over 100 different community swims across the UK in 2022.
This conversation with Rachel is insightful, honest, and I warn you, a little emotional too. If you’re interested in learning how a community as strong as Mental Health Swims came to fruition, I urge you to read and take note of Rachel’s wise words.
*Trigger Warning — brief reference to suicide, abuse, eating disorders*
So Rachel, tell us a little bit about Mental Health Swims
Mental Health Swims is a peer support community, although I’ve been umm’ing and ahh’ing about this recently, because I think it’s better defined as being a welcoming space for people who live with mental health challenges. It is less about talking, and more about access to spaces so that those who live with mental health challenges feel like there are less barriers to joining. People meet, they have a dip, they have a chat and then they might do a litter pick afterwards too. That is the premise.
It started with me and my little group in Swansea and I did a shout-out where 30 people turned up and it was really successful. It was just a monthly dip, until lockdown. Over the pandemic the community grew, and there were 30 groups ready to start post-pandemic.
Now things are a little bit different and we have to think a lot more about safety. My role now is to support and train our 360 volunteers. They are amazing and wonderful. I support the behind the scenes and they deliver the groups.
So in essence, it is all about outdoor dipping; not as a cure for mental illness, but as a great tool to add to your kit. It’s not here to replace your medication.
So when you started your own group pre-lockdown, was there a specific moment that inspired you to create this space for others?
I have always struggled with my mental health — I tried to kill myself when I was 14 and ended up in hospital, I had eating disorders, and I was a very troubled little sausage. I’d experienced abuse and was very troubled.
I didn’t get end up getting my diagnosis (emotionally unstable personality disorder, social anxiety, depression and PTSD) for my mental health until 2018. I was working with a psychiatrist who was trialling me on different medicines and I was very medicated and very miserable. I was wondering if I would ever have purpose in my life because life was centred around just surviving.
I was staying with my family one Christmas, and of course that Christmas turned to New Years Eve, and New Years Eve turned into New Years Day. I had heard about a local New Years Day swim called the Loony Dook and I felt inspired to try something new. I decided I would join the 100s of Scottish people who were really hungover on New Years Day and took myself in my Marks & Spencer swimsuit, did a run down to the sea and just flopped in!
It was painfully cold as I walked back up. But what I found was that as the pain subsided, some of my emotional pain subsided too. It felt good! I decided in that moment that I would do at least one swim a month for the rest of the year, which ended up turning into swimming several times a week.
During this period I was also having some serious therapy and had found medication that worked for me. The swimming was the scaffolding that kept me going through a really challenging and difficult time.
The outdoor swimming community is very kind and welcoming generally, but you have to be brave enough to go ahead and join them. On a good day, I can do that, but I couldn’t help but think about all the people who might be feeling how I had felt only a few months prior. I wanted to create an outdoor swimming community that made it a more safe and accessible space.
When I put the idea out there to the world, it turned out that a lot of other people wanted that space and people did just turn up to my first Swansea swim.
What sort of processes or elements of your community do you feel has made Mental Health Swims a success?
I think that the biggest thing for me is realising that I’m one person, I can’t do it all, and the strength of our community now is that everyone who comes along feel a sense of ownership of the responsibilities.
Our process (application forms, training, etc) for being involved has evolved over time. The people who volunteer for us go through a process whereby we can see that they are definitely the right fit for us… i.e. not suggesting diet regimes etc. All of our processes are designed to make it a genuinely really safe space.
Not being afraid to innovate has been really key to our success. I think every cohort of volunteers has been tweaked and revised. We’ve had feedback and it’s all been built by the community and I think that makes us more successful.
What has been a community highlight for you in your journey with Mental Health Swims?
I think there have been many and they have mostly been, on a personal level, when people who have been very unwell (e.g. those who have been in a psychiatric unit) seeing them being discharged and joining our groups.
I can think of one amazing woman who was staying in a mother and baby unit for a very long time, she joined Mental Health Swims, and now she volunteers! On a personal level it has helped me have a purpose. A highlight is when I see other people who have felt that things were too tough and couldn’t see their place in the world and then see them be supported by our groups.
I think volunteering is awesome — full-stop — it gives people confidence. That in itself is a massive win to be able to share with others. Seeing people flourish.
For us as a community it was awesome when we won the Marsh Award, and also when we worked with Speedo too and got a MASSIVE donation and were finally able to pay the team. It was great. I don’t know if we’ll be able to do it next year but this year it’s been great.
What has been the most challenging part of running your community so far?
Oh my God. What hasn’t been?!
Funding.
We are coming to the stage now where we’ve just gone for a massive Lottery fund, we didn’t get it, and the waiting was the worst. All the work that went into writing the bid, spending nights worrying that our story wasn’t strong enough. It’s hard.
There is a cost of living crisis and so much going on in the world so the priorities of funding are different.
I worry that our members will not be able to afford to get to our meetings, to bring snacks, to be able to warm up after. So a major concern and challenge of mine is how this might affect accessibility. This is an ongoing worry.
My own mental health has also been a challenge with it all. I would say I’m recovered in the sense that I have a good quality of life, I have a great toolkit, a great partner, our home is happy… but I still get depressed, and I still find life hard. It’s a lot steadier these days but it’s still hard.
What advice would you give to someone who is looking to start their own community?
Me and my partner started another community recently — The Queer Supper Club- so I would say if you see something that’s not out there in the world, that you want, go for it.
There are some very simple steps.
- Set up an Instagram page — I know social media is evil but it can be helpful.
- Connect with other communities who are doing similar things to you — maybe not the exact same because then there isn’t a need for the secondary community (!) but similar-ish communities to tell them what your idea is and encourage them to share it
- Think about your users journey — from searching on google, to clicking on your website, to the wording used (comms), help people feel safe to attend
- Help people understand how they get involved — give people clear steps and tips for becoming members
Where is it you would like to take your community in the future?
I don’t know. When I know I’ll go for it! I guess I’m guided by the community and I guess that’s where all my learnings have been… it’s not about me. I am not Mental Health Swims, I am me, and I am serving a community as best I can. I am guiding that community by using the feedback from the people who use the groups.
Is there anything else that you’d like to add or share?
I just want to say, people are capable of doing extraordinary things, especially when they ask for help. Before I did this I did a little office admin job and I only managed about 9 hours a week. I think it doesn’t matter whether your CV looks a certain way. If you are someone with a spark of an idea, go for it!
The Takeaway
I walked away from this conversation feeling so inspired. What Rachel says is true — if you are someone with a spark of an idea just GO FOR IT.
Here are some of the Takeaways if you’re scrolling through quickly:
- Things that made the community a success: delegating, evolving and processes!
- Things that have been a highlight of building the community so far: getting a sense of purpose in life, seeing volunteers flourish with confidence, supporting those experiencing mental health challenges, brand support.
- Things that have made building the community a challenge: funding, grants, money and Rachel’s own mental health
- Advice that Rachel would give to someone starting their own community: utilise social media, connect with other communities, think about the user journey, make it easy!
- Where is Mental Health Swims going in the future: we don’t know! And that’s ok. The future is guided by the community.
There is a whole team of community leaders ready and waiting to support you through it. If you would like any support in your community-building journey please do feel free to drop us a DM on our Instagram — The Community Starter.
