Austin man walking 2500 miles to raise mental health awareness & honor best friend

The Next Step Movement

In August, Alex Bradley will be walking 2500 miles from Austin to Oregon City straight to where his best friend took his last step, honoring him every mile. FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera has the details.

AUSTIN, Texas - Alex Bradley is walking from Austin to Oregon City and talking to people along the way to raise awareness about mental health and to honor his best friend.

The backstory:

In August. Bradley will be walking 2,500 miles from Austin to Oregon City straight to where his best friend took his last step, honoring him every mile.

When Bradley talks about his best friend AJ, Bradley describes AJ as the friend that was always there for you.

In October 2021, Bradley heard the tragic news that AJ took his life.

For the past 4 years, Bradley has worked on ways of how to keep AJ's memory alive and that's where 'The Next Step Movement' started.

What is The Next Step Movement?

Dig deeper:

Every day will be a partial marathon. Bradly will be talking to people on his journey about what mental health resources available.

With June being Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, it's important for Bradley to talk about it and break the stigma.

According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness, men are less likely than women to seek help for mental health problems.

"As a man... Finding my direction on this walk has given me that sense of purpose, but that doesn't change how I operate in my daily life, that I still hurt, that I still feel. And not having an outlet to communicate that other than showing how strong we are and how impenetrable we are," says Bradley.

"The process of that is going to be incredibly long and about a marathon a day over 100 plus days and that's in hopes of having a support vehicle realistically just to be a place to rest and then take off again. I'm offering an opportunity for any and everyone that isn't crazy too much where we're going to walk if they want to join with me on steps and days where we can coordinate travel and then reaching out to the local cities and towns if they have stories of suicide or places a chance where I can talk about mental health for a time or two," says Bradley.

What they're saying:

"This is about more than running. It’s about being human. Showing up. And taking the next step—even when it hurts." says Bradley.

What you can do:

To start a walk and spread awareness, Bradley will need some help. 

For those who are interested in learning how they can assist, you can click here or below.

The funds raised will go toward the support van, crew, gear, food, recovery tools, filming the journey, and outreach across cities and communities.

If you or someone you know is in distress, there's always help available.

You can call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 9-8-8 or reach out to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK.

Help is available 24/7.