Psychologist Emma-Rose Parsons uses ultra-trail running to manage her ADHD and raise funds for neurodivergent children, turning personal challenge into community impact. Emma-Rose shares her story below.
As an ADHDer, running multiple businesses (three now, with one in progress) and with a busy young family, life gets ‘noisy’. Sometimes ‘too’ noisy.
My combined subtype ADHD was identified later in life. Always on the go, I have often found discomfort with ‘sitting still’ and a strong preference for physical and intellectual ‘movement’.
I need to be constantly learning and growing and I love to deep dive into two main areas in my life – psychology and ultra trail running.
As a psychologist, I spend 2 days a week in clinic and the rest of the week working in schools and workplaces, teaching about neurodiversity affirming practice. One strategy I have found to effectively quiet the noise, is running. Repetitive, mindful, outside with fresh air, one step then the other, over and over.
When I run, my mind is calm and quiet, and usually I have just one thought at a time, or sometimes, a seeming lack of ‘active’ thoughts. It’s peaceful and energizing and much needed.
When talking recently to a colleague about running and the positive impact it has on my mental health, it led us to talk about running events. A typical ADHD style ‘segued’ conversation later, we landed on the topic of how being in hospital can be tough for kids, particularly anxious, neurodivergent kids.
The bright lights, the unknown, the new smells and faces. The anxiety and discomfort. I decided to try and reduce this fear and anxiety, by raising funds to supply our local hospitals with resources that will help.
The idea grew and in April 2024, I set off for a 180km run, from Lake Mountain to Federation Square, passing the three Eastern Health hospitals – The Angliss, Maroondah and Box Hill, all with the support of Eastern Health Foundation.
Starting at 5pm, I ran through the night in pouring rain, taking some detours to navigate unexpected mud and slips. Then into the day, where hospital staff came to cheer and alongside my family and friends. A few incredible hospital staff ran legs with me, chatting about how the funds would impact the patients in their care.
Initially setting out with a goal of raising $5000, I unexpectedly met my ‘tutu target’ of $30,000 before I started. So I ran 180kms in a multi-coloured tutu! After 26 hours of running, the total crept up to almost $45,000.
I was absolutely blown away. My daily mental health runs had led to a huge change for our local kids in our local hospitals.
Mountain 2 Melbourne was an incredible opportunity to use my passion for running to quiet my mind and support our community. We now have the funds to purchase fidget toys, VR goggles and an ultrasound machine (to help get in IVs first time for small children).
Next year, we hope to include schools and the local community further to raise more funds. Because being an ADHDer in hospital can be hard. And we can make it easier.
- Emma-Rose
