The Baton of Hope is heading through Northamptonshire
The tour is raising awareness of mental health & suicide prevention
The Baton of Hope tour is heading through Northamptonshire today (20/9) with the aim of raising awareness for anyone struggling with their mental health, and support suicide prevention.
The Baton of Hope is continuing it's UK tour today through Corby, Kettering Wellingborough and Northampton.
The Baton of Hope is the UK's largest suicide prevention initiative, travelling around 20 locations across the country.
It started in Blackpool on 1 September and ends in Wrexham on 4 October, ahead of a finale in Westminster, London, on 10 October.
Northampton singer and Voice UK star Billy Lockett is taking part as a baton bearer:
There is all sorts of people carrying the baton at different points and I'm just a small part of it.
"My mental health has been up and down, I went through a patch of getting a lot of panic attacks and anxiety and suddenly I was like oh my god I know exactly what that feeling is it's almost like you can't breathe. And the weird thing was there wasn't really any reason why they were coming on."
He also said mental health in the music industry is becoming more spoken about:
"It's a lot more normalised to be open about how you feel. Back in the day you were so lucky to be in the industry that you shouldn't moan. There is a lot of pressure I think and also the fact you don't really have a normal job so it's hard to have any routine so a lot of the time you have spare time and that's where you overthink."
You can find out more about The Baton of Hope here.