When riding the bike,

everybody’s equal

OVERCOMING BARRIERS IN MINDS AND SOCIETY

8th International Together Against Stigma Conference

Copenhagen, Øksnehallen September 21st, 2017

Bo Rasmussen – participant of the bicycle runAnja Kammacher – project manager

A physical movement against stigma

“The fact that people with a mental illness will get the idea of changing their lives by starting a bike ride, train up to this and define a goal to bike from Vestegnen [east of Denmark] to Skagen [north of Denmark]…

There would be a lot of healthy persons who would find that prohibitive to set a goal like this. For the fund, that was worth to support”

(Steffen Nørgaard, Director, The Fund of Spar Nord)

Shared Care of Psychiatry

THE PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

• An enhancedintersectoralcollaboration of psychiatry of Vestegnen

• A shared focus on healthpromotion and prevention of Diabetes and Chronic ObstructivePulmonary Disease

(Psykisk sygdom og ændringer i livsstil, Vidensråd for Forebyggelse, 2012)

Health promotion together

• Seven municipalities

• Mental Health Services -Capital Region of Denmark

• General Practice

• Service users of the psychiatry

• Employees

• Leaders og managers

• Third sector

• Private sponsors and companies

COPRODUCTION AND DEVELOPEMENT

• Course of health education

• Quit smoking – together

• Yoga

• Cooking and eating together

• Exercise in hot water pool

• Spinning

• Etc.

The meeting where it all began

And so we did…

On the bike everybody’s

equal

• 4 users of of social psychiatry, Glostrup Municipality

• 4 employees of social psychiatry, Glostrup Municipality

• 1 leader of social psychiatry, Glostrup Municipality

• 1 mayor of Glostrup Municipality

• 1 Chief Executive of Glostrup Municipality

A short movie

Bo Rasmussen – my story

FROM PTSD AND ANXIETY TO BIKES AND FELLOWSHIP

• 55 years old

• Former entrepreneur with own business

• Entering the system in 2008

• A life in isolation and hopelessness

A winner in the couch

WAKING UP ”THE SLEEPING GIANT”

• The feeling that winter

• Started believing

• A kind of inner glow

• My old drive was about to return

• For the first time something felt right

From duty to joy

• I got in contact with my will power

• I stopped feeling sorry for my self

• Changed perception from inside to outside

• I gave my thoughts a break

The fellowship gave meaning to the cycling

BEING A PART OF SOMETHING BIGGER

• Equality

• The kindness

• Like a family

• Loyalty and commitment

• From challenge to value

• Stopped thinking

• Stopped reflecting

• The power of action

• I got in contact with my old values

• I could feel a new and better version of my self

Made it!

I CAN WIN. AND I CAN WIN WITH OTHERS

I’ve stopped thinking about what’s

right and wrong• Fighting my self stigma • Aligning external with

internal expectations

NowALL I WANTED WAS GOING BACK TO NORMAL,

BUT WHAT IS NORMAL?

• New normal

• Learning to listen to myintuition

• Realizing how my resources can be used

• Role model

• Likes the new and betterversion of my self

• Studying to become a psychotherapist

• Still on the bike

• Chairman of the former bicycling club

• Working as bike coach for other mentally vulnerable people

Thank you for listening!

Contact Anja Kammacher at anja@kammacher.dk for

• More information, details on the projects and more stories• More movies• Pictures• Evaluation• To get in touch with Bo

• Visit facebook: Vestegnen til Skagen – et psykelløb for sundhed