S2 Ep4: Finding Our Way with Richard Chapman - Grief and healing through climbing

Finding Our Way - Diverse Outdoor Voices

Content information: In this episode, Richard talks about his young son dying from cancer, and the impact of that traumatic experience on his mental health. He also describes how climbing has helped him recover and manage PTSD.
Child Bereavement UK provides support for children, parents and families dealing with bereavement. They have a helpline 0800 02 888 40 or go to their website https://www.childbereavementuk.org/
If you need to talk to someone, you can call Samaritans any time day or night on 116 123.
In this one we sit down with climber and mountaineer Richard Chapman, who’s changing the way trauma is treated in mainstream healthcare. He has lived experience of trauma and PTSD, and says climbing outdoors helped him recover. He’s now helping develop NHS trials of ‘social prescribing’, where patients are offered non-medical, community-based interventions – including climbing – as a pathway to recovery and hope.

• Being introduced to the mountains by his Dad
• Richard losing his young son to cancer in 1998, at the age of 14 months
• The dangers of telling people about losing a child, the intensity of the emotions and the negative impact on Richard’s mental health
• Getting a diagnosis of PTSD and why grief counselling didn’t work
• The physical, psychological and emotional benefits of climbing outdoors
• The power of Nature Connection
• The neurological basis of trauma
• The reality of being ‘triggered’
• Emotional agility and activities that can help you experience powerful emotions safely
• Yoga, singing, theatre…and climbing?
• Richard’s seven principles of why climbing is so therapeutic
• How this work has changed how Richard climbs – the appeal of the aesthetic line & scrambling
• Managing risk for people who are vulnerable
• What is social prescribing, why we need it, where it’s being rolled out
• Completing the NHS Peer Leadership Development Programme
• How this is a story of recovery, hope and being defined not just by what happened to you, but by what could happen next.

Show notes and full transcript available at www.thebmc.co.uk/finding-our-way-podcast-rich-chapman-grief
Follow Richard on twitter - @elchipmeister @climbingmatters