An Innisfail woman is training for a journey that will take her more than 3,000 kilometers away from home. It’s a 74 day walk this summer that will see her end up in Austin, Texas.

It’s all for mental wellness.

Tara Laidlaw has spent her entire life battling depression and anxiety.

“When your world is falling apart, and you're in a lot of pain, and you want to pull the blankets over your head and want everything to go away, you need a tool,” said Laidlaw.

Laidlaw hit an all-time mental health low more than four years ago when her son was diagnosed with a serious health condition.

“I was really, really low, and struggling and suicidal,” said the mom of two.

She says that low point sent her out the front door and on a walk that lasted over eight hours, but it helped her discover her first tool to finding balance in her life, “I've walked from here [Innisfail] to Stettler, here to Rocky, Red Deer and back, and Olds and back quite a lot.”

While on the path to mental healing, Laidlaw turned to her faith which helped her find the 24/7 support network she needed most. An online foundation called ‘Always Keep Fighting’ started by ‘Supernatural’ actor Jared Padalecki.

The 32-year-old said: “It literally saved my life.”

She’s now training for a walk more than 3,000 kilometers long that will lead her to the foundation’s headquarters in Texas.

“The more I thought about it I would get filled with this peace and calm that this was what I was meant to do with my life,” she explained.

A trailer will follow Laidlaw on her 74 day trip. Officials in more than 50 towns and cities she’s walking through have reached out and asked her to speak at different events.

The thought at first made her nervous, but she’s since connected with Innisfail Toastmasters to help her with her public speaking. She said she’s determined to make a difference in other people’s lives.

“I want other people to see somebody who struggles daily with depression, with severe anxiety, and see that they're not defined by their disease,” she said.

Laidlaw expects the cost of the trip to be around $5,000. 

There are two upcoming fundraisers in Innisfail: one on April 1 and another on June 10 to help fund the trip. Anything above what she needs will be donated to ‘Always Keep Fighting’.

You can follow along with Laidlaw’s journey and find out more about the fundraisers by visiting her Facebook page.