Tom defies Blue Monday to kick off mammoth mental health campaign

It might be Blue Monday, the day in January where everyone is said to be feeling at their lowest, but for Thomas Judge, Monday January 20 marks the start of an exciting year ahead!

As the founder of First Contact UK Mental Health, Tom, who has experienced PTSD, knows only too well the difficulties people who suffer from anxiety and depression face.

However, Tom, 60, of Ingleby Barwick, wants to show everyone there is life after mental ill health – and is seizing the day to kick off a walking challenge from the UK to Spain – with a fridge on his back!

The walk will be 1,400 miles - completed in 20-mile stages - and Tom hopes it will raise £200,000.

Through the walk, Tom has the potential to set a new Guinness World Record – but it’s the symbolism of the feat that is more important to him.

“The weight of the fridge represents the weight people who are suffering from mental ill health carry on their shoulders,” Tom said.

“Through this charity walk, I am raising funds for my mental health charity and raising awareness of the impact mental health issues have on people through our #breakthesilence campaign.

“During the walk to Spain, we will be visiting eight football clubs – four in Spain and four in the UK and we are hoping to get their backing.”

The organisation is about to sign a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Red Cross to provide support services.

Tom’s link with Spain came about after Tom’s first walk from Middlesbrough to Benidorm in 2022, which was spotted by Mayor of the Spanish resort Antonio Perez Perez, who came out to meet Tom along with the British vice consul Elizabeth Bell MBE at the end of his journey.

First Contact Mental Health UK currently operates as a community interest company (CIC) but is due to get charity status in March.

This will pave the way for Tom to be able to collect text donations during the walk, which will help massively with fundraising.

His organisation supports people leaving mental health services with the transition to daily life without NHS support.

With First Contact UK Mental Health, support is open-ended and includes the equine therapy, group walks, 14 exchange program with organisations in Spain, 10-day walks on the famous Camino de Santiago, open water dips and gym sessions.

All of these are also open to caregivers looking after a loved one experiencing mental ill health.

While he is excited about the growth of the charity in 2025, he admits: “There is so much to do and we are so far behind other countries it’s extremely worrying.

“My life now is dedicated to raising awareness and helping people – I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what me and my family went through.” 

Speaking of his own experience, Thomas says: “I set the First Contact UK Mental Health CIC because of my own illness.

“I was a very active entrepreneur and at the age of 50, I was struck down with complex PTSD and disassociation disorders and that’s why I wanted to set something up to help others overcome day to day challenges.

“From my point of view, there was absolutely nothing that was sustainable for me after I came out of services that was open-ended in terms of after care and rehabilitation support.”

Tom says he lived with his trauma for many years “deflecting it” for 35 years, before he “hit a brick wall and slid down it”.

“I’m lucky to still be here,” he says.

“As an entrepreneur, I had been very successful - but I now understand work ethic and success was a deflection from my trauma.

“In a way, what I had been through drove me, but what I had been through had to hit me sooner or later.”

Today, his overarching aim is for his charity to provide people with a facility they can use for as long as they need, with suitable recovery support that will enable them to remain stable for longer, as well as providing fully funded meaningful activities.

Tom believes there are limitations to current mental health services, which typically provide a limited number of counselling or therapy sessions following a mental health diagnosis.

“In the UK, we are also experiencing a lot of mental health services being taken away or people facing incredibly long waiting lists,” Tom says.

“We are doing a couple of pilot schemes around the country to see how a respite facility would work, so that people can come out of therapy and go away for a three or four-day break, somewhere quiet where there are not too many people - and this facility is already on offer in Spain.

 “The idea is to ease people back into normal life and gently work with patients alongside frontline services.”

You can find the charity on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/firstcontactukmentalhealth