“I’ve always used the outdoors as my toolkit. It’s what I call my Natural Health Service and I believe everyone should have access to it.” – Alex Staniforth
Alex Staniforth and Chris Spray are the masterminds behind Mind Over Mountains, a charity whose tagline “Restoring mental health, naturally” conveys their collective passion and vision. The stark realisation by Alex that it took longer to access NHS mental health services than it did to cycle and run 5,000 miles (8000km) around the highest county tops of the United Kingdom (72 days) fuelled his desire to help others access the outdoors to manage their mental health.
The charity offers open public one day hill walks and retreats for those in need, supported by a phenomenal team of coaches and psychotherapists across Snowdonia, Peak District, Dartmoor, Chilterns and the Lake District. These events are simply life-changing as individuals have the space and time to walk alongside others in a different environment.
Discover how the collaborative partnership of Alex and Chris resulted in the co-creation of Mind Over Mountains, the Benedictine philosophy of ‘perfect hospitality’ that lies at the heart of each event and details of their vital work in support of front-line emergency service members post-COVID amongst others.
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Our guest
Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking adventurer, ultra-runner, author and charity founder aged 27 from Chester who has already survived the two biggest disasters in Mount Everest history as a teenager, including the Nepal earthquake in 2015.
However his biggest challenges have been much closer to home, suffering openly with mental ill health, epilepsy, stammering and bullying since childhood. The outdoors has long been Alex’s tool for managing the peaks and troughs – what he calls the ‘Natural Health Service’ – and in 2020 he co-founded Mind Over Mountains, a charity to restore mental well-being and resilience through outdoor experiences.
Alex is committed to building positive mental health through access to nature and encouraging healthy conversations.
Chris is an international leadership consultant and trainer. Chris formed Spring Coaching in 2012 to help people find the resources and resilience to create change in their lives. Much of Chris’s practice revolves around taking people into the outdoors, to stretch them and experience how they can imagine new possibilities.
Chris’ coaching practice is based around NLP as a certified trainer and Transformational Narrative Coaching, reconnecting and making new sense of your life story.
Chris is an outdoor fanatic having completed many “ultra” walks and endurance cycling challenges. He lives in Cheshire and is married with two children.
