On The Road 4 Mental Health is an incorporated Not-For-Profit.
Tragically, our story is no different than that of thousands of families across Canada, with an average of 21 joining our journey each day due to the toxic drug crisis and another 12 per day to suicide.
Our family is channeling our grief to help others avoid our path.
Greg and Aaron
Greg – Aric’s father
(Founder)
Born and raised in Ottawa, Greg left high school at a young age to discover life. Homeless for a period of time and hitch-hiked to Nova Scotia in the early ’80s. Homeless in Halifax until he made friends with Richard Murphy and soon after began living and working on the Murphy family’s 75 foot sailboat, the Mar II.
In 2001, Greg left his job at the House of Commons after 13 years to build a jewellery business along side his partner, Ingrid.
Greg is the manager and a senior instructor at Cooligan Martial Arts in Stittsville, where Aric and his siblings all received their black belts.
In 2020, Greg started walking distances to be alone with his thoughts and to find good around him to help him deal with his grief.
Aaron – Aric’s brother
(Co-founder)
Aaron is the third of 4 children, Aric’s younger brother.
Aaron was the catalyst that turned personal walks into a fundraiser in 2022, after mentioning to his father, Greg, that he would like to join him on a future walk. That first walk, with no previous experience with long walks, no training and old footwear, Aaron completed the 44km walk and soon after, enthusiastically agreed to the 100km walk in 2023.
Aaron and his brother Kaelan, joined Greg for part of day 1 and on the final day of the Niagara Falls to Ottawa walk in 2024