Black Dog Ride To Host A Ride For Mental Health Awareness In Australia

The 1 Dayer 2022 ride has local events planned across the country, for all riders who want to join.

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Feb 24, 2022 at 8:59am ET

Add RideApart as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Black Dog Ride is an Australian motorcycle charity focused on raising both awareness and funds for depression and suicide prevention. Formed in 2009 after the death by suicide of rider Steve Andrews’ best friend’s wife, the event has only continued to grow over the ensuing years. As the whole world knows, the past couple of years have been particularly rough on many peoples’ mental health—so 2022 seems like a particularly necessary time for BDR to host its annual ride.

The Black Dog Ride 1 Dayer 2022 event is currently scheduled to kick off on Sunday, March 20 with local rides in over 30 cities throughout Australia. If there’s no local ride near you, or you’d prefer to get out and ride on your own, BDR is also hosting a concurrent Virtual 1 Dayer 2022, where you can go out on your own (or in a group with your riding buddies) on the day.

The official event registration page reads in part, “1 in 5 Australians experience a mental health condition each year. 3 million Australians are living with depression or anxiety. 8 Australians take their lives each day. That's more than 3,000 lives lost to suicide each year. The tragic loss of our loved ones to suicide drives Black Dog Ride to build a community culture of awareness, inclusion and acceptance. Breaking down the barrier of silence encourages our friends, family and colleagues to seek help, because mental illness is just that, an illness. Mental illness can be managed to lead a meaningful, fulfilling life. Fostering awareness is the catalyst for encouraging help seeking behaviour and preventing suicide.”

What do you think?

View

Comments

It continues, “Help Black Dog Ride break down barriers and start conversations, join thousands of riders on 20th March 2022 to kick start a national conversation around suicide prevention. Register for our 2022 Virtual 1 Dayer or one of our local 1 Dayers near you.”
Registration is more than just a headcount of participants. If you register for the event, you’ll also get a packet mailed to you in the post that contains your official embroidered 1 Dayer patch for the 2022 event, as well both a 1 Dayer 2022 participation bike sticker and a separate Black Dog Ride bike sticker.

It’s been an especially rough couple of years on most of us throughout the world—but if there’s one potential silver lining, it’s that a lot more people around the world are openly attempting to address mental health issues. Bikes aren’t the only way to do it, but they can definitely help—a fact you probably already know if you’re reading RideApart.

Source: Black Dog Ride via Motorbike Writer