AFTER a traumatic car accident at the depths of her struggle with mental health, Darlington resident Brooke McIntosh started out on an athletic journey in the hopes of helping others.

In August 2023, the 28-year-old started her run from Dampier, heading down the coast to Perth. The 1600km run raised more than $71,000 for mental health awareness through the Blue Tree Project and 20Talk.

Ms McIntosh said her own mental health struggles were the driving force behind wanting to make a difference.

“I noticed a massive gap within the younger generation and the FIFO space; this is where my own mental health started to suffer and I wanted to do something drastic to raise awareness for those two specific areas,” she said.

“Its pretty extreme to run 1600kms, but people have rode bikes doing it and I thought why not run it as running is something I love too.”

The documentary about her gruelling run, entitled Impact to Ignite, had its WA premier as part of the ‘gutsy girls adventure film tour’. Brooke said its reception was humbling and heartfelt.

“Kendall from the Blue Tree Project saw the ‘gutsy girls film festival’ when I was on day five of my 1600km run and she thought this would be a great film to enter into this festival,” she said.

“She organised most of it as a surprise to me and as a thank you for raising over $70,000 for the Blue Tree Project. She organised for our filmmaker to collate all the behind-the-scenes and dig out more of my past to tie in. I had to give a little bit more of an input into parts to include to make it more impactful and also to have more of my personality entwined in it too. I feel like in 1600km I gained my personality back; dancing through the outback to make the run achievable and inject as much fun into it as I could.”

At the start of 2025, Ms McIntosh will be taking off again, this time on a run around Australia which spans move than 14,000km.

She said she looks forward to more of the camaraderie she experienced on her first run.

“The best part for me would definitely be the connections made throughout: people dropping off powerades, ice for ice baths on the side of the road, handmade signs taped to road signs and all the banter between myself and truckies while on the run to keep my spirits high.”

With an aim to run 80km each day, Ms McIntosh has her eyes fixed on the record for fastest female to complete the Australia lap on foot, and all for a cause close to her heart.

“I’ll be initiating more conversations across the nation, gaining corporate sponsorships to hit the target of raising $1.4 million for mental health. Because I believe all it is, is just one more step, breath, day, conversation, and our mental world can be a better place.”