A psychotherapist from Blackburn woke up on the day of Manchester Half Marathon and made a last minute, spontaneous decision to take part.
Imogen HG-Johnson, 44, is a former PE teacher and has been a psychotherapist for a Darwen company ‘People Of Worth’ in Belthorn Road, Blackburn, for the last eight years.
When she was younger, the Blackburn psychotherapist, who has always been a 'sporty person,' was offered a scolarship to play hockey at Cheltenham Ladies' College.
Having gone through her own personal challenges this year, Imogen woke up on the morning of Sunday, October 9, deciding she was going to challenge herself.
She said: “I just thought to myself I’ve got to get myself back out there.
"I've always been a sporty person and I used to play hockey when I was younger. I ended up getting a scolarship at Cheltenham Ladies College down south to train.
"What happens is, when you’ve gone into like a shock or gone through something that’s challenged us, if you don’t process that grief you go into trauma.
"Something in me went, ‘I can’t change what’s happened, I’ve got to accept it.’ So, I thought, how do I now start my recovery? It's a mindset.
"During those 12 miles, my mind said, ‘I’ve got to keep moving forward’, because every mile is a process of me moving forward towards becoming the best version of myself again.”
Before Imogen began working as a psychotherapist, she taught children in care and realised that as well as looking after your physical health, taking care of your mental wellbeing is just as important.
She said: “A lot of the kids I was teaching were really struggling emotionally and I noticed how hard things could get, even for adults.
“I’m dyslexic so I struggled at school, but I wanted to prove to myself, and those who doubted me, that I could do something like teaching and went and got all the qualifications I needed to do it.
“I just told myself, ‘I am, I will, and I can’, and I tell my clients that too.”
Imogen applied this mantra on the day of the Half Marathon which motivated her to keep going and complete the run.
“Like I said, every mile I ran was a step closer to helping myself. When you go through something challenging in life, it’s human nature to go into a state of shock and debilitate and stop moving. We all do and it’s the same for therapists.
“So I just had to get up – physically and metaphorically. Doing the half marathon was a huge step for me but I’m glad I did it. I did one last push, and I didn’t give up on myself.”
Stressing the importance of emotional wellbeing, she added: “You have to be able to be with the emotions you don’t like feeling.
“When you’re running, you’re in a relationship with your head. You can’t take it off in the changing room going, I’ve had enough of that today, I’ll put a new one on.’
“It’s all about your mindset and you have to learn how to take care of it."
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