Woman who ran Britain’s coastline after suicide attempts urges others to ‘start the conversation’
A woman who attempted suicide twice before going on to run the coastline of Britain is urging people struggling with their mental health not to suffer in silence.
Runner, writer and speaker Megan Boxall is originally from Suffolk and has spoken about her recovery to mark World Suicide Prevention Day, which takes place today (Thursday 10 September 2026).
Megan says that two years ago her life appeared successful from the outside. She was working as a journalist, owned her own home and was married, but underneath, she had been experiencing a persistent feeling of sadness which she struggled to understand.
She told us that because her life appeared good “on paper”, she began questioning why she felt the way she did.
Her mental health deteriorated during 2024 and, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that summer, Megan later experienced periods of psychosis and attempted suicide twice.
She spent time receiving psychiatric crisis care, including nearly a month as an inpatient.
‘It gave me a focus’
In January 2025, Megan moved to the coast with her dog, Shadow.
While out running, she decided to attempt to run around the coastline of Britain to raise money for Samaritans and raise awareness of mental ill health.
Megan said she was still experiencing serious difficulties with her mental health at the time, but having something to work towards helped give her a focus.
She went on to complete the challenge, which she says made her the fastest woman to run around Britain's coastline, while raising more than £70,000 for Samaritans.
But for Megan, the challenge was never primarily about the record.
She said: “That running was never really about the running. It was never really about the record. It was always about the bigger picture, the mental health side of things.”
Megan says her mental health is now significantly better, although she still experiences what she calls “wobbles” and has learned to recognise when she may need more support.
Recognising when something is wrong
One of the biggest warning signs for Megan is withdrawing from the people around her.
She said: “For me, the biggest thing is shutting down and not telling people that I'm not feeling good, just pretending that I'm feeling fine.”
She described staying in bed for longer, turning down social events and neglecting aspects of looking after herself as some of the behaviours she now watches for.
But she says the most important warning sign is when she begins pretending to friends and family that everything is fine and stops engaging with them.
Now, when she recognises those behaviours, Megan says she makes a conscious effort to tell the people close to her how she is feeling.
She said: “I'm very, very mindful of not doing that ever again, because that was really what made things so bad.”
Starting conversations
World Suicide Prevention Day is held annually on 10 September to raise awareness of suicide prevention.
This year's wider international theme is “Changing the Narrative on Suicide”, with “Start the Conversation” encouraging people to challenge stigma and create more open discussions around suicide and mental health.
Samaritans says talking to somebody who may be experiencing suicidal thoughts can make a difference. Its research with a lived-experience panel found 60% of respondents who said their suicidal thoughts had been interrupted said this had happened because of someone close to them, while 14% cited a stranger or somebody they did not know.
For Megan, opening up about her own experiences has already led to conversations she believes might otherwise never have happened.
While completing her run, she says friends, relatives and strangers contacted her about their own mental health, with some joining her for parts of the route.
She said: “I had so many people reaching out to me, people who I knew, people I didn't know, like strangers, friends, family.”
Megan believes being open about her own experience made others feel more able to do the same.
She added: “I was being open, because I was saying that things can be really, really rough and that's okay. Like, it can get better.”
‘Shame and embarrassment’
Megan believes shame and embarrassment can be among the barriers preventing people from admitting they are struggling.
She described feeling as though she “should be able to handle” what she was experiencing because other aspects of her life were going well.
Megan said there is an important distinction between normalising conversations about mental illness and trivialising what can be a serious condition.
She said: “We should normalise it. We should say, this is actually completely normal. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not broken. You're not, there's nothing to feel ashamed about.”
She believes treating mental health more like physical health could make it easier for people to acknowledge when they are struggling and seek support.
Showing that recovery is possible
Since completing her challenge, Megan has spoken about her experiences at schools and other events.
She hopes sharing what happened to her can help challenge the idea that there is one correct path through life, as well as showing people experiencing serious mental ill health that recovery is possible.
Megan said that when she was at her lowest, she remembers encountering stories about people who had died by suicide more often than stories about people who had recovered.
She now wants her experience to contribute to a different narrative.
“I think showing that people can get better and do get better is a very important thing,” she said.
For Megan, that does not mean pretending difficult days no longer happen.
Instead, she says she has learned to recognise them, speak to others and continue doing something which has become particularly important to her recovery: running.
She said she wants to continue speaking in schools and sharing her story, adding: “Keep talking, keep the advocacy side of things up as well and, yeah, keep running because for me that is the main thing that helps.”
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, Samaritans can be contacted free at any time, day or night, on 116 123.