Today, Jess is known as the founder and creator of Run Talk Run, an international running group that focuses on mental health. Thanks to her, thousands of participants each month in the UK and around the world have found a safe space where they can open up about their struggles, all while getting a little fitter in the process.

Running and sports wasn’t always something Jess was interested in. In fact, when she started running, she had what many would consider a negative relationship with the sport. Jess recalls growing up quite resistant to sport and running. She struggled with her mental health as well as an eating disorder.

Running ended up being just what she needed to break out of the negative cycle she was in. By 2017, she realized just how positive of a space running had become for her. She found running with friends or in a group particularly beneficial.

The realization that running helped provide her a space to open up inspired her to start Run Talk Run. The premise for that first run was simple: It was to be a five kilometer gentle jog open to all abilities. She didn’t even mind if people came just to walk.

“I wasn't focused on performance at all. It was all about having that conversation about how we're doing.”

She remembers the first run like it was yesterday.

“I only had one attendee and I was very open with her from the get-go that I was extremely nervous about doing this,” she recalls. “That really did open up the conversation for her to talk about her experiences with anxiety as well.”During that first year, Jess’s group was the only Run Talk Run group that existed. It started out very small, with some weeks where no one else would attend but Jess. But over time, people began coming out more consistently. The group stayed small, but the small size made it more intimate and allowed attendees the space to open up about the hard things that they were going through.

One year in, Jess received a message on Instagram. A woman who lived about an hour and a half outside of London had found the group on social media and was interested in starting one in her town of Peterborough.
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“I said well, you know, why don't you just call it Run Talk Run as well and we can both do this thing together and support each other,” Jess explains. “What I didn't realize at that moment in time was that I had, I guess, set a snowball off for people reaching out and wanting to start Run Talk Run in their own hometowns.”

Five years later, Run Talk Run now includes 150 volunteer-led groups across the UK, the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Though it is expanding across the world, the groups have still remained small. Jess says her group consists of five to 10 runners each week, which she says perfectly suits the purpose of the group.“It suits our vibe and our purpose. I think it'd be quite intimidating if we were one of those really big crews.”

Not only has Jess seen incredible personal growth in herself, but she has had the pleasure of watching others open up and become more confident as leaders of Run Talk Run.