THUNDER BAY — A former law enforcement officer said he's turning his pain into hope and creating community impact across Canada.
Sachin Latti is just about halfway through what he's dubbed "Canada’s longest run for mental health".
The 47-year-old has run an ultramarathon almost every day since he left Victoria BC on June 16, running roughly 60 kilometres a day.
Latti ran 900 kilometres across Northwestern Ontario in the span of a week. He arrived in Kenora on Sunday, running to Dryden on Monday, Upsala on Tuesday and Thunder Bay on Wednesday where he planned a community run on Thursday, and spoke with Newswatch about his mission.
“I've been meeting amazing people along the journey, and it's kind of been fuelling me,” Latti said.
On Friday, Latti is running to a campground just east of Dorion, and then continuing to Marathon on Saturday and White River on Sunday.
Latti said that through the journey, the team has noticed that going into communities has created a safe space for people to come and hang out, and even run some kilometres with him.
“Some people have been struggling; some people have been sharing their stories of triumph and sorrow.
As a veteran and former officer with Canada Border Services, he said he's particularly hoping to connect with other veterans and first responders who may be struggling with trauma.
“I just started running in 2020 actually. I was struggling during the pandemic. I was struggling with my own mental health. I was going through a divorce, work issues, and the pandemic, all those things all at the same time, kind of culminated and then really affected me greatly. I ended up having a major depressive episode.
“I was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, started going through that process of figuring out how to navigate through that, and one of the ways I started navigating through it was running.”
Running helped Latti manage his mental health, starting really small and progressively increasing.
He said the initial plan for the journey was to run 100 kilometers a day across the country.
“What we started noticing in the first few days of the run . . . people were just engaging a lot. They saw the RV and they were stopping us.
“For me to run 100 kilometres, I have to be really dialed in, and I can't stop and have conversations, so I sat down with the team and we just started brainstorming, having discussions, and we thought, well, what's the ultimate goal here?”
The ultimate goal is to raise awareness and funds for mental health, it’s not the running, Latti said.
“We made a pivot right in the first few days. We noticed that we had to shift it to service the community much better,” he said.
Latti said the plan changed to run to people, not past them. Instead of running 100 kilometres per day down the highway, Latti runs roughly 60 kilometres and engages and connects with members of the community.
His goal is to raise one million dollars in support of five mental health charities. As of Friday he was about two per cent of the way there, with over $20 thousand raised.
“Hope is everywhere around you. All you have to do is look outside your window,” he said.
More information about the run, including a map tracing Latti's progress, is available on his website and Instagram page.