B.C. man to solo kayak over 700 kilometres on Columbia River to raise awareness for mental health

Darcy Kindred plans to kayak over 725 kilometres along the Columbia River to raise awareness for mental health issues.

For Darcy Kindred, being in a kayak on one of B.C.’s many beautiful lakes or rivers, provides a level of solace so profound he deems it a form of therapy.

For the final few weeks of July, Kindred will be paddling more than 725 kilometres along the Columbia River to try and raise awareness of and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues.

The Chilliwack resident says he hopes the Paddle Forward campaign, part of a planned long-term mental health movement, will encourage those who are facing the same battles he has experienced to take to the water themselves and seek out help when it’s needed.

“The biggest message that I want to tell people is that you are not alone, and as soon as you ask for help, it’s going to be like a big, heavy, wet blanket off your back,” he says.

The 21-day expedition will kick off July 9 as Kindred departs Canal Flats, a village in the East Kootenay region, before rounding off in the West Kootenay community of Castlegar July 31.

He plans to document the journey as he goes, publishing daily video diaries to social media that detail the things he has seen and experienced – from the scenery and the wildlife to the challenges faced – and offer insights into his own experience working towards better mental health.

Kindred’s own decision to seek help came after years of mental angst triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and a high-stress career in the financial sector.

“We were living up in Kamloops at the time, and I was on my quad and quadding through the bush, and all of a sudden, I hopped off my quad and sat back against a tree and had a cry for about two hours,” he says.

“At that point, my thought process was that I was going to enjoy the summer with my wife, take her on her dream vacation, and then when we got back from that in the fall, I was going to commit suicide.”

Kindred credits his wife of six years, Caralee, for saving his life after she discovered his plan and pushed him to get help. The healing journey was a “slow, tough process” at first that involved medication and therapy, but was improved remarkably last year when Caralee, knowing her husband’s love for the great outdoors, purchased on a whim a set of old kayaks their neighbours had listed for sale.

“I picked them up, and I went out that night for the first time, and within the first five minutes I felt great, and I really felt like I found something that would help me heal,” says Kindred.

After a few months on the water Kindred’s idea for his “epic journey” began to form: He would kayak a 550 kilometre trip for his 55th birthday, because “10 kilometers per year ought to be enough to contemplate life and what (I’ve been) through,” he says.

The idea evolved into a fully fledged campaign that would see him tackle more kilometres with the hope of raising funds for mental health charities, Centre for Suicide Prevention, based in Calgary, and We Are Unsinkable.

With plans to tackle 35 to 40 kilometres a day to stay on schedule, amounting to seven to eight hours of paddling, Kindred says he knows the journey will be tough, but that thoughts of the hundreds suffering the same battles he has endured will ensure he keeps going.

“The Canadian Mental Health Association says that at any point in time, one in five Canadians is suffering from some sort of mental angst or trauma. We’ve got 45 million people, so that’s 9 million people in Canada at any point in time,” says Kindred.

He says the 725 kilometres planned for his trip will amount to around 300,000 paddle strokes, and that every paddle stroke will represent 30 people that are suffering, just in Canada alone.

“It’s very motivating as to why I need to do this,” he says. “That’s why it’s important.”