LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — If you were driving through Lebanon County on Wednesday, you might have spotted Anoton Nootenboom, an Amsterdam native, walking alongside the road.
His mission? To raise awareness for men’s mental health through an extraordinary journey— walking barefoot across the country.
Nootenboom is walking to support Brave Men Talk, an organization dedicated to helping men navigate their mental health challenges. His journey spans from Los Angeles to New York City.
Nootenboom said his approach is to break his trip into smaller goals.
“I just take it day by day. Looking too much at the big goal can drive you nuts,” he said.
Nootenboom's goal, however, is monumental—he aims to break the Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot journey, totaling 3,230 miles. He initially set this record, which was briefly surpassed before he reclaimed it when he reached St. Louis earlier this year.
With an impressive history of pushing his limits, including walking barefoot to the base camp on Mount Everest and completing a 27.5-hour non-stop walk barefoot, Nootenboom describes this journey as his most challenging yet. He highlights that the emotional and physical challenges he has faced are “compressed into this one journey from Los Angeles to New York.”
Nootenboom’s journey not only aims to break records but also to break the silence surrounding men's mental health, one step at a time.
A veteran of the Dutch army, Nootenboom’s personal experiences shaped his mission. “I served for 10 years and did three tours in Afghanistan,” he said.
The rocky road back to civilian life led Nootenboom to a dark place.
He recalled, “I didn’t know how to deal with it and I eventually ended up on a cliff… not wanting to step out of life but wanting that pain and endless long dark tunnel out of me to stop.”
But Nootenboom isn’t alone. A Penn State article states that men make up 79% of suicide deaths in Pennsylvania, with similar trends seen nationally.
Across the U.S. the suicide rate for men is nearly four times more than that for women, despite overall male depression rates being lower.
Nootenboom attributes this trend to societal pressure on men to suppress their emotions.
“Because us men do not speak up we start to tense up and we have all this masculine power and we start to abuse, we start to unleash it in ways that aren’t right. So by releasing that masculine energy that you have in a more positive way, in a healthy way, you make sure that you balance it out and you don’t make any wrong decisions,” Nootenboom said.
That’s why he’s sharing his story as he travels across the country, his journey helping connect people from all walks of life.
“So many people pull over to support. People that you know have a link to mental health and want to share their story which creates a safe space for someone else to feel okay,” said Nootenboom.
As Nootenboom approaches the last leg of his trip—expected to arrive in New York City on Nov. 2.—he welcomes the public to join him for the last mile of his journey. “I do not want to finish by myself. I want to finish with a big statement: you are not alone,” he stated.
Participants are invited to gather at Madison Square Park in New York at noon on Nov. 2, to finish the final leg of Nootenboom's journey to Times Square. For those unable to attend, further information on how to support Brave Men Talk is available here.
The money raised through Nootenboom’s journey will go towards providing men with mental health counseling resources at no cost to them. The organization’s goal is to raise $250K, which would support 10,000 men in the U.S.