November 10 2021
MEDIA: 10km, Every Day, Your Way.
Young Australian actor Lincoln Younes took up a running challenge last month to raise funds for mental health.
While many took up running during lockdown for health reasons, Lincoln added a fundraising element.
He created The 10 Challenge with the aim to raise $10,000 for mental health and suicide prevention.
Lincoln ran 10 kilometers every day for the month of October. He was raising money specifically for mental health charities Beyond Blue and Lifeline.
The 10 Challenge encourages others to do "10k, Every day, Your way." It raised almost $14,000 for vital mental health services and caught the attention of media.
"Mental health is low across the board and suicide hotlines are being inundated due to the pandemic and ongoing lockdowns," said Lincoln.
"That's why raising awareness and providing financial support for these initiatives has never been so vital."
Home and Away fans will know Lincoln Younes as Casey Braxton. He also played Tom in Season 5 of Doctor Doctor.
Lincoln was working in the United States when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. He had to leave his work and return home.
Having always enjoyed running like "a meditation", Lincoln always saw the benefits of setting running goals and bringing calm and mindfulness into one's life. It was thinking about this during the pandemic that inspired him to create the 10 Challenge.
He told Nine he hopes his charity challenge will continue the conversation about mental health.
"I know that having something to achieve every day gives people a reason to get out of bed even when they don't feel like it. And it also gives them a sense of achievement each day that they are entirely in control of and capable of."
He told Nine he hopes his charity challenge will continue the conversation about mental health.
"I know that having something to achieve every day gives people a reason to get out of bed even when they don't feel like it. And it also gives them a sense of achievement each day that they are entirely in control of and capable of."
Lincoln is also vocal about how the idea has helped him.
"...helping others, or at least trying to, has given my mind direction and purpose when I feel I have digressed too much or my energy has fallen too low."