Forging Resilience
Join us as we explore experiences and stories to help gain fresh insights into the art of resilience and the true meaning of success.
Whether you're seeking to overcome personal challenges, enhance your leadership skills, or simply navigate life's twists and turns, "Forging Resilience" offers a unique and inspiring perspective for you to apply in your own life.
www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-hill-synergy-coaching
https://www.instagram.com/aaronhill_79/
Forging Resilience
50 Gina Atkinson: "From Tragedy to Purpose"
Gina Atkinson shares her remarkable journey from military service to mental health advocacy, revealing how personal loss propelled her to raise awareness and funds for charities. With heartfelt anecdotes, she emphasises the importance of connection and nature in overcoming adversity.
• Gina’s early connection to the military and sense of belonging
• Transitioning from military service to civilian life challenges
• Realities of close protection work versus its glamorous portrayal
• The impact of personal tragedy on her mental health journey
• Transforming grief into fundraising for mental health charities
• The therapeutic benefits of nature and physical activity
• Current challenge of 5,200 miles to honour her brother
• Encouragement for connection and support regarding mental health
_______________________________________________________________________
If you found value in today’s episode, it would mean the world if you could take a moment to leave us a review.
Your feedback helps us grow and reach more people looking to build their own resilience.
And don’t forget to hit that like and subscribe button so you never miss an episode.
Follow my social media accounts | LinkedIn | Instagram |
Click here for my monthly newsletter, mix of insights, reflections and questions. To share with other driven people like you, for your own insights and application.
Welcome to Forging Resilience, exploring for a different perspective on strength and leadership. Join me as we discuss experiences and stories with guests to help gain fresh insights around challenge, success and leadership. Today, on Forging Resilience, I'm joined by Gina Atkinson, who's a former member of the UK Armed Forces and now running a security company, arc24. A former member of the UK Armed Forces and now running a security company, arc24. She's also a dedicated fundraiser ambassador endurance athlete raising awareness for mental health campaigns. She fundraisers for charities. A cancer survivor who's got an incredible backstory and we look forward to diving into more of that today. Gina, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Hi, finally got here, it's taken.
Speaker 1:It's taken us a while um between illness, christmas and a couple of little technical things. So yeah, I appreciate your patience, gina. It's good to have you yeah, it's great to be on gina, give us a, give us a bit of a snippet of your backstory and a bit about your childhood, your military career, what's relevant and what leads us to be sat here having this conversation today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I had a pretty normal upbringing.
Speaker 2:You know, nothing major went on really. I was just really into sports and fitness and got into the army cadets and from there I just realized that I had this affinity for the outdoors and for everything military and green really, and then didn't do so well on my A-levels, quite get in as a you know, to study law and decided to join the army and the royal signals as a communications engineer they call it now and then from there I was. I was just really lucky with a fantastic career and my first sort of five years of service I went to like 35 different countries and was cutting edge of comms and was in any conflict or peacekeeping mission. That sort of came up within those first five years of service before I moved on um to different things. So yeah, it was um pretty good. I got out after sort of 11, 12 years and just went into CP, went over to America, did some really beachy stuff over there and, yeah, had a pretty good life really seeing a lot of different things that you join the military to do, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can I ask you what year you joined Gina?
Speaker 2:more or less. I joined in 96.
Speaker 1:Okay, so yeah, a full-on career that's probably spanned quite a few interesting trips, both in operations and exercise.
Speaker 2:It was very quiet when I joined up, apart from really Bosnia, and then the world seemed to sort of go a bit crazy after that period of quietness we had in the 80s.
Speaker 1:What was it that really drew you to the Armed Forces? Apart from the yeah, loving to be outside and adventure, Was there anything else that particularly drew you?
Speaker 2:The cadets for me felt like a family, family. It felt like I belonged, um, really. So I also just loved everything that you know, I loved even the stuff like drill and field craft, getting getting dirty and jumping around and, um, it was probably that, that belonging, that I'd found something where people are similar to me with similar mindsets and goals. So it was probably that from a really early age. And then the stuff they did, how they did, adventure training, which I loved, and I was a skier as well, so I was in the English ski team, so the adventure training side of it as well, so I got more opportunity with it. So it was opportunity and challenge, really, and adventure that the military offered, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. And how was your transition, leaving the uniform after so long and such an interesting and varied career? How was that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was tough, to be honest, because I left a sort of incredible unit that was doing you know miraculous things and I was at the top of my game. I got out thinking, you know, everybody knows what the military do, They'll know what you know a sergeant was and they'll know what operations were and what I did for this medal and they'll give me that sort of respect. But in the you know, late 2000s people didn't really know. You know your CV, people didn't really know. You know your cvs didn't translate across.
Speaker 2:So I've just done my what was then like a five-week post-protection course to get my what just come in my sia license, so I could do bodyguarding in layman's terms, and I just couldn't get a job. I ended up going back to the military, going to the TA, the reservist, which gave me a little bit of a lifeline and I felt safe in there, and I then nearly took a job standing on a car park collecting tickets for people to park for the day on like three pound an hour or whatever the minimum wage was then. So it was pretty soul-destroying and sort of like what the hell have I done? Um, so it it wasn't sort of an easy transition. I thought get out, everybody would want me. I'd end up with some high-flying job and no one really really cared that I was ex-military and what I've done. So it was.
Speaker 1:It was quite quite a sharp shock wake up really yeah, but so what sort of things did you do then? Apart from obviously going to the ta and using that network there, what other things did you do to help bridge that gap for yourself personally, then?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was just getting in with different companies and stuff. And then literally I was about to start that job on the car park down in deepest, darkest sort of Birkenhead and you know, and I got a phone call to come to London for an interview and I went for the interview it was successful and ended up telling the guy I wasn't going to start working on his car park because he was furious at the time saying you'll never work in Liverpool ever again. I was like fine, I don't want to. And then I was off straight away to chicago and I'm working in america for for a while doing like unbelievable stuff. You know, living in in beverly park, which is part of beverly hills, but like the, if you like, the posh part, um, and and you know, my, my um walking wardrobe in that house was bigger than my house is now. It was absolutely unbelievable, um. So yeah, it was. It was such, um you know, stark differences from from the three worlds I've lived in.
Speaker 1:And then the next thing, I was basically in Hollywood doing crazy stuff having been in the military myself and having done a little bit of the work, like you have. Often people mistake it as always glamorous and quite interesting, and I'm curious for you, though, to highlight a couple of things that people might not know about that line of work, that aren't as quite as glamorous, despite the locations or the people that you're working with. Is there anything that sticks out to you in terms of, yeah, the unseen or the unglamorous side that you can mention?
Speaker 2:Well, once you sort of get out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, or working in close protection or bodyguarding high-value clients.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you definitely. You know, we're being from the military, we used to service and it's definitely sort of that service industry but kind of it seems all sexy and glamorous but you don't want to be pulling, you know, like a kevin costner and bodyguard. You know that you, that is your worst day. You want to keep everything nice and quiet and controlled and boring is what you want it to be. You don't want it to be, you know, crazy. You want it nice and boring and chilled, because that's a good day really, um, for protecting your clients. But your clients don't often want that because they they want sometimes the attention, depending on what you're doing. So you'll advise them to not do whatever they decide to do and then they'll do it and you have to deal with the consequences, because they want to be seen yeah, it's, it's a.
Speaker 1:It's a balance, isn't it it's about? Managing their expectations and, yeah, their safety as well. I think for me. The two things that jump out at me from the small amount of time I did doing that sort of work is, first of all, the waiting around yeah, standing and my back did not like that at all. And secondly, I think the biggest is you're always on somebody else's timetable yeah, yeah, you'd always wait.
Speaker 2:you'd always. So when, when I've done the odd job with some foreign royalty, you're waiting on their every command, so you'll be sat up in your suit, if that dictates, from eight in the morning, waiting for them to go somewhere, but they won't go anywhere. You'll get your pyjamas on, thinking they're not going anywhere, but they won't go anywhere. You'll get your pajamas on, thinking they're not going anywhere, and the next thing there's a knock at the door. Five minutes I'm going out and it's like 11 o'clock at night and you're like what the hell? So, yeah, you're definitely a servant, if you like, from that point of view, and you have to get used to filling your time but being ready to move at any point.
Speaker 1:So yeah, what led you to become so active in terms of fundraising and helping raise the awareness for mental health charities? Do you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when I first got out of the military I sort of I think before as well I've always done odd charity events and and and whenever I've done like an ultra marathon or or a run or something if it's been something big I've put fundraising page up or done it for the charity.
Speaker 2:But the main catalyst was um in 2019, um, my brother was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer and um I was diagnosed with ptsd around the same time and then the tidal wave of covid was coming towards us and everything that was horrendous was somehow made worse by that situation and it and tragically, sort of my coping method was always fitness and doing stuff and tragically, after three months I wouldn't even say it was a battle because it just ripped through his body In three, four months my brother was dead and I was sort of left thinking what am I going to do with this grief? And what I did with it is try to make it into something good. So I set out on a challenge and and after the year of that challenge, I'd raised ten thousand pounds for a um cancer, local cancer charity and they set up an art foundation in his name to help cancer patients, and during that time I'd been helped from military charities with.
Speaker 2:You know my PTSD and trying to cope with the grief really, and I wanted to pay it back. So I thought I can't keep doing challenges. So then I put together a poetry book by the military about the military and put that out for charity and kind of. From there it's been a catalyst and I've got to keep active. That's how I am. So why not keep active by raising funds for these charities that I've come affiliated with, become about ambassador for, and, and that then led me to to an incredible total of, within a couple of years, of raising 300 000 pound for veterans charities, and that message I just think I just keep needing to get out, that you know your donations or um, talking about the charities can, can help people, even if it's someone going.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize that service was available and they can reach out. And the mental health side of it as well is because I did suffer um from, from poor mental health and was on on, you know, in that absolute piss of despair and needed to be, to be dragged out, and my fitness and stuff dragged me out by that and by by having something, a name to do and be, something to achieve. And since then I've I've met people who've suffered from poor mental health, been on the brink of suicide, and it's through talking about it that it helps other people to think that they're not alone and hopefully, if one conversation between myself and you or another podcast or a post on social media can make people think I'm not alone, and then that's, that's totally worth all of the miles that I'm running or walking or hiking or talking to different people. So I think that's where it comes from.
Speaker 1:How, if I can ask how, was PTSD showing up for you personally then, when you, as you say, in your pit of despair? What would that look like if you were to paint a picture of that?
Speaker 2:It was just feeling like incredibly. It's like incredibly sad with everything, like nothing. You can be smiling at something because you you go out with friends and family, but deep down you're so incredibly unhappy. You don't know how you're ever gonna sort of carry on with life properly. You put a face on it to make other people think that you're fine, but you're not sort of deep down inside and it and it's, and it and it is. It's the correct word to use despair. Despair, I think. I think people sometimes use it, um, out of context, context, but you, you just, you just don't know where you're gonna, how you're gonna carry on, I guess, and you think, and you do think you're alone. You do think that nobody's ever felt this feeling, no matter how many people are banging the drum saying they have. At that point you don't think that anything can help you and I think it's just trying to trying to yourself step out of that with help and move forward from it.
Speaker 1:Really, what are some of the things that you do then, or other people might be able to do, to help manage that? In day-to-day life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me, my two sort of things, my two elixirs of life are definitely nature and fitness. So combining that, like even if you know you feel, oh God, I've had enough for today, you're not depressed, but I need to refresh my head, just getting outside and walking down the street because you're going to see green, and green has such a calming influence on everybody it's actually apparently the only colour that the eye doesn't get tired from is what I heard from someone, so maybe that's a reason. So I'll get up, and I'm quite lucky to be near, quite in that way, because it's down there, um, near um, what's called bergner park, which is it was actually the first park in the world to be made um, and it's like the same sort of similar to central park, same model, but on us and just getting in there and walking around, even if you don't want to, will lift your mood.
Speaker 2:You you'll feel slightly better. If it, you know you you're in a really, really bad place, you will feel slightly better and it helps you to reset. So I think the main thing for me is is nature and and getting out and and moving um, I'm a lot better outside than going to the gym, although the gym helps me as well once I get there, because you have to force yourself to get there sometimes. So, yeah, it's definitely those two things that have helped. And then connection with others. So you know I'm a social being. I'm definitely.
Speaker 2:You know I'll go into a pub and I'll be talking to someone with a dog and friends and family will be like God. What are you talking about now? But it's like it's all about connection. You never know how that person will you'll brighten their day or they'll brighten your day. It's for me, it's definitely about that, and that's what this year I'm trying to highlight with some of my challenges is. Last year I focused on how loneliness um is a killer and I'm terrible for mental health and by by doing a challenge across Scotland on my own um, and this year I'm trying to focus on connection and bringing people into my challenge.
Speaker 1:Challenges to show that that's how we can dig ourselves out as well as being in nature and fitness yeah, I love that, and for me personally as well, then I think that both those things that being outdoors in nature is a really strong ground has a really strong grounding effect on me as well, and if I can combine that with my bike, even better.
Speaker 1:But sometimes it's just a walk and, just like you said, I think if I was going to pick one thing for me, it would be connection, and I think the interesting thing there is I'd caveat that with connection to myself. So it's to start to understand what I'm going through or experiencing or just feeling. There's no problem, it's just knowing what's going on, having an understanding so that I can connect to others as well, like, like you say, and being being around other people and being able to, yeah, ask them a question or ask them something about their dog, which, like you say, you never know the effects that that might have them. So, yeah, connection to myself before connection to others. You've talked about a couple of different challenges, gina, your latest one. I know you're trying to rack up 5,200 miles, or is it kilometers?
Speaker 2:No, it's miles.
Speaker 1:Miles ooh Kilometers is touching 9,000,.
Speaker 2:I think Maybe I should start saying it's kilometers, miles, ooh, Kilometers is touching 9,000,. I think Maybe I should start saying it's kilometers.
Speaker 1:Why 5,200?
Speaker 2:So it just fits nicely, the numbers, in one respect. So 100 miles a week is 52 miles, 52,000 miles in the year. And also my brother died, so it'll be five years next year because that's when COVID was all sort of starting. So he was 52 when he died. So it also fits with the numbers because it's slightly, you know, as a memorial to him, because unfortunately, you know, I'd rather have him here than be where I am now. But he was a catalyst for, for all this fundraising and good that's come from it, I guess yeah, nice touch.
Speaker 1:I knew that. I knew there'd be a reason, so I'm glad we got to that yeah and so how? How are you doing those 100 miles a week, more or less?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I've always sort of done multi-day challenges to try and fit it around life. So you know I can't afford to go off all the time and you know, run around Britain for a year and stuff like that. So it's fitting sort of everyday challenges around life and work. So I'm trying to do most of them sort of hiking or walking or running, but my knees from my service and stuff really allow that.
Speaker 2:So I'm bolstering that with cycling and a bit of kayaking, more so in the summer. So for example, I'm a bit short for the minute because I was I was sick over christmas with with pneumonia, so I had a couple of weeks off and so I'm a bit behind on the miles. But like last night I went for the spin class, so clocked up eight miles and probably harder than on the road in some respects because you get no free miles. So I do do it like that. So mainly hiking and cycling is is what I'm trying to clock the miles up with you doing all of these bits alone, or is there other individuals and and?
Speaker 2:join you on certain parts of these yeah, I'm doing it uh kind of alone because nobody's as crazy as me quite yet, but I am also at the end of the challenge, at the end of the 5,200 miles. I'm finishing it at the foot of Everest and it was my plan just to do it on my own. But this year, as I'm saying, it's Connection. I've got a team of six amazing women who are joining me. I asked them to come along. I'm organizing the trip so we're using local um shepherds and local companies and with that comes along, I'm also help taking them out training they're doing. Obviously they've got to do a lot themselves, but most of them are local to merseyside, so we try and meet up once a month minimum and get out hiking.
Speaker 2:So the last well, our first major one was we Saturday just gone and we went up to Snowdonia. We didn't do Snowdonia, we went up out the back into some valleys and it was an absolute perfect day for hiking. On Saturday we had this window of. It wasn't too cold, it was just about touching minus, and there was actually sun in the sky, which is unusual for Wales, and it couldn't have been any more perfect and it's good to get out there and share, you know, as you're walking for eight hours, you're talking a lot, aren't you? And sharing your stories and um, yeah, so it it's definitely a bit of a different challenge for me because I'm trying to involve others. Anyone can come, and if the if the board, come on, come along and I'll go for the hype with them.
Speaker 1:So to that end, then if people are interested in maybe joining you or reaching out or even fundraising sorry, donating to your charities or the charities that you're supporting, where might they be able to get in touch?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so on LinkedIn, I'm Gina Atkinson, so if you can DM me there, I've hit crazy on the Gina Atkinson, so if you can, you can DM me there. I've. I've been crazy on the on the other social medias so I think TikTok, gina Atkinson, which is I just post videos of where I'm walking. I don't really talk that much on it.
Speaker 2:Gina Gianelli on Facebook, which is a long story which is a nickname a nickname from my skiing days, yeah, and also my fundraising page, which is actually Gina Rollsop at 5,200 miles. So, yeah, there's a few places, but, yeah, if you reach out, I'm often walking, hiking or kayaking and always happy to join in on someone's challenge. I'm, hopefully, cycling with a lady who is an Army cadet instructor. We're going to do Liverpool to Leeds along the canal in the summer, so that'll be nice. We've got a few people coming, so that'll be a nice little challenge and clock me a hundred odd miles on there, so yeah, what?
Speaker 1:what was one thing that you would like to mention to the world, or if there's one thing that you'd like to for this podcast to to talk about or repeat again that you would potentially offer to listeners um, I think, going along that you know the mental health, health sort of side of things everyone at some point in their life will suffer from poor mental health.
Speaker 2:We're not saying that everyone's gonna be in this, you know, drastic so, but everyone's going to have ups and downs. There's a lot of anxiety today, built up by different stresses, you know, with social media and people thinking they have to achieve more than more than what they do. You know, things on social media aren't always real and it's just to you know. Know you're not alone. There's always someone you can reach out. Even if you find me and you DM me, I'm happy to talk, speak to anyone. I'm happy to talk and signpost people in the right direction, but know that you're not alone. And if you're feeling alone, get out and connect with nature as well as connecting with with people. Um, yeah, so probably, probably that's that's my message is, in this world where we can be isolated, working from home and and not interacting as much, and you know, get out there, make connection and and know that you are on to loan us so many different charities out there that can help you connect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love it. Love it. Well, gina, thanks so much for taking some time out of your day to speak to us. Thanks for talking about the charities that you're working with. Actually, I think it's Veterans Can, isn't it the one that you're working for?
Speaker 2:So I think Veterans Can is more of a community which is great.
Speaker 2:So it's a connection type thing. So the charities I'm fundraising for is Saffir, the Armed Forces charity, because they really helped me and they're sort of a Swiss army knife for the military, so they can do anything from helping someone adopt to, you know, buying them a microwave because they need that. And then the next one's buddies lodge, which is a veterans and emergency services um charity, which is mainly in wales. It's the biggest veteran charity in wales and they they're really local and do quite um you can see the impact that your money, your money's directly going to. And the third, third one, is Act UK which, because I'm an army cadet instructor, I like to keep a little bit in the green, not too much.
Speaker 2:I'm the adventure training instructor so I'm not in uniform too much, and that charity gives teenagers the opportunity, no matter what their background is, is to go on life-changing experiences and expeditions and and give some bursaries and and give some equipment and and that's vital, that's absolutely life-changing. I've seen it happen with my cadets. So it's it's two sort of veterans charities and the youth charity which is quite passionate about both organisations. So yeah, so hopefully I can raise as much money as I can. I'm aiming for 3,000, but if I get a lot more, then that'd be fantastic. But my main message is you know to highlight those charities and what their services bring for people and you know you might not have heard of them and they might be able to help somebody or a friend that you know.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, yeah, once again, gina, thanks very much. Thanks for the important work you're doing there to help fund these charities and using that tragic loss of your brother to help others and also as a way of processing what you're going through as well, by connecting with others and helping bring people together. So thanks very much for your time. It's been great to speak to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fantastic to be on and I look forward to, you know, hearing more of your amazing guests that you have on. So it's a privilege to have a chat and get on Brilliant. Share my message.
Speaker 1:Cheers, gina, thanks.
Speaker 2:Thanks, bye.