Former addict and Tiktok poet takes on Europe walk

A former addict who shares her struggles through poems on TikTok hopes to document a groundbreaking challenge for suicide awareness.

Kit Birks, 29, from Andover, Hampshire, wants to be the first person to travel on foot from Europe's northernmost point in Norway, to its southernmost point on the Greek island of Gavdos.

The solo challenge is a 8,500km (5,280 mile) journey that will take her through 10 countries and last about a year.

Ms Birks said: "I'm doing this trek to make lots of noise around suicide prevention."

She said she started taking antidepressants aged 13 to treat persistent insomnia, anxiety and depression.

Throughout her teens she struggled with anorexia and bulimia, before becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol at aged 17.

She said: "It wasn't apparent at first: when you're young, people your age are drinking lots as well."

Ms Birks said her "party girl" persona became increasingly destructive in her early 20s, and eventually "spiralled into everyday using".

Then, in March 2021, she ran away from home and became homeless.

"My family didn't really know where I was. I put them through hell," she said. "I tried to take my life three times. Luckily, I was really bad at it."

In May 2022, she found herself with "nowhere else to go" and was accepted back by her family "without hesitation".

A friend posted about a recovery programme and she decided to attend an online meeting, which she said was "amazing".

During her recovery, she was diagnosed with ADHD and bipolar disorder.

She said: "I found poetry in recovery, I wasn't even 30 days clean, and I just picked up a pen and a piece of paper and started writing.

"By the time you get to rock bottom, you've got this rucksack on your back filled with so much stuff, and you think you're going to take it to your grave.

"Poetry became my way of expressing that, when saying things really bluntly felt too scary."

Her poems struck a chord on TikTok, where she has more than 37,000 followers.

She said: "I made a vow to myself that I didn't want anyone else to go through years of feeling lost and misunderstood.

"I just want people to know that it's OK to talk about it more, and there's no shame in anything that you're struggling with."

She has been training to carry everything she needs in her 20kg backpack, including a tent and a large flag bearing the names of people who have taken their own lives.

Some of them are friends, others were sent in by bereaved well-wishers online.

"I'm going to hit so many points where I think 'I don't know how I'm going to do this," she said.

"That's why I've got the flag, and that's why I've got people's names on my tent, because it's all these little reminders of the bigger picture.

"I'm determined to do this, so I know I will."

She hopes to "honour the lives of those lost to suicide" and show people "it does get good again".

"If you take it one step at a time, eventually you will find yourself back in the light again," she added.

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.