MUT-TOUR 2024: 12 stages, 3 months, almost 4000 km
Under the motto "Courage to help yourself - make support visible!", 74 participants aged between their early 20s and mid-70s took part in the MUT-TOUR 2024 between June and September. The tour was divided into a total of 12 stages: During the ten tandem stages, teams of six on tandems travelled an average of 55 km a day, spent the night in tents and gave numerous interviews on the topic of dealing with mental illness.
A hiking stage with two horses led almost 120 kilometres through the Lüneburg Heath. A special highlight this year was the first "Great MUT Hike", a hiking stage that was open to spontaneous hikers on its route from Bremen to Cloppenburg. The eight-strong core team covered around 100 kilometres on eight hiking days and was regularly accompanied by interested people. After a total of 3 months and 12 stages, the MUT-TOUR 2024 ended in Osnabrück on 3 September after almost 4,000 kilometres.
58 action days took place along the route throughout Germany as part of the MUT-TOUR. They are organised in close cooperation with local partner organisations and offer information about depression as well as a variety of hands-on activities.
The MUT-ATLAS - Courage to help yourself and local MUT groups
The "MUT-ATLAS" - an online guide to all aspects of mental health - was always on board. It bundles offers such as self-help groups, counselling centres and therapy services on a map. It is free to use, anonymous and data-protecting - which, according to its creators, makes the MUT-ATLAS unique in Germany to date.
However, like many such services, this atlas also depends on participation and the passing on of information. In order to present as many such offers of help as possible, we are therefore looking for further cooperation with higher-level providers of mental health services, as well as volunteer MUT scouts who research offers and enter them in the atlas.
Michaela Göddenhoff has been travelling with the MUT-TOUR for years. She would like to see more transparency in the healthcare system: "When I started looking for help because of my alcohol addiction, I already felt pretty lost because of my illness. During my internet searches, the lack of transparency in the support system overwhelmed me even more. Overall, the search was a lengthy and painful process. That's why it's so important that there is now a compact and clearly organised service like the MUT-ATLAS. Searchers can save valuable energy here and find the support they need more quickly."
The MUT-ATLAS emerged from the MUT-TOUR, as many participants and people they met on the stages had similar experiences. Both projects can be traced back to the organisation Mut fördern e.V., which was founded in 2022 by Sebastian Burger and long-time tour participants.
More information about the annual campaign and the organisation can be found at www.mut-tour.de. Further information on the MUT Atlas, for example, can be found at www.mut-foerdern.de.
Marc Strucken
Editor
