“You can change yourself in a year” is the powerful advice of a Watford resident who is undertaking a deeply personal mission to raise awareness of suicide prevention.
In January 2024, Joshua Squires-Adams sadly lost one of his friends to suicide, which left him “in a really bad headspace”.
Speaking to WATFORDnews, Joshua said: “Many times I thought I wasn’t going to make it through and I have. Running helped me free my mind.”
When Joshua saw the suicide rates of 2023, he decided to set himself a challenge.
At the start of 2025, he began running 5,656km across the year, representing 1km for every registered suicide in the UK in 2023.
While raising awareness for suicide prevention, he has also been raising money for Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM).
Having already run over 5,260km and raised over £40,000 so far, Joshua said: “It has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Physically and mentally, it has been very draining.
“I aim to do 15km a day and trying to get that done between work and life is a lot. Around September I got ill and trying to keep up with it then was pretty much impossible, but the support has been amazing.
“My family have been really good with it all the way through, and the running community is great as they are all out running for similar reasons”.
Through his running, Joshua has also found another inspiring message. He said: “This completely changed my life and mindset. You can change yourself in a year.”
Now, Joshua is entering his final push and is inviting residents to come along and support him in his last length.
At 9.15am on Wednesday, December 31, he will be running around Cassiobury Park from Cedar Café, in a big celebration to mark the end of the challenge.
To find out more about Joshua’s journey, you can follow his Instagram @joshjsa
You can also make donations to his page at https://shorturl.at/m53UB
0 Comments