A foster dad turned social media influencer with over a quarter-million followers is training to hit the Pacific Crest Trail to raise awareness about the ongoing lack of mental health resources in the state.

Along the 456-mile Oregon portion of the PCT, Medford resident Andy Neal plans to talk about a growing mental health crisis in the state and his family’s decade-long battle to access critical resources for his adopted foster children.

Neal plans to start hiking in June and July and cross the Oregon-Washington border with what he says will be far from his first “shoutout” to Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek.

His pre-hike perspective? A formerly out-of-shape, plus-size influencer stands a better chance hiking more than 400 miles than seeing real change in his home state’s current mental health care crisis, he said.

“I want to cross the Oregon-Washington border and be like, ‘OK, governor, I’m here! Where you at?” Neal told the Rogue Valley Times this week.

Clicks for change

Neal is a 42-year-old former freelance videographer who describes himself as an unlikely hiker. He said the benefits of being outdoors and the support from social media followers provided a lifeline during the pandemic.

When he began hiking for his own mental health benefit in 2020, the exercise and social media postings provided a needed outlet while grappling with the behavioral and mental health challenges of his three children.

During the pandemic, Neal posted videos on his Instagram, @AndyFilmsAndHikes, and started a podcast.

In a nod to his infectious humor and quick wit, a video posted in January 2022 — in which he angrily declared he was “going on a stupid hike in the stupid morning for his stupid mental health” — immediately went viral.

The video of the hike, at BLM’s Golden Nugget Wayside along the Rogue River just outside Gold Hill, garnered more than 37.5 million views.

“At that moment, January 4, 2022, I was able to go full time as a social media influencer,” Neal noted.

“I was dealing with everything and needed to post something,” he said. “It was chaotic, but in a good way … in the best way. People could relate to how I was feeling.”

The video was followed up with opportunities to work with brands like Columbia, Merrell shoes, Nike, REI, Zappos.com and others, as well as countless more “stupid hikes” and funny-but-inspiring posts. What couldn’t be depicted by any video, Neal said, was the logistical nightmare he and his wife Lindsay, a teacher, have faced trying to access critical services for their children.

The children, brought into the couple’s home in 2013 at the ages of newborn, 3 and 5, experienced horrendous abuse and suffer from a slew of issues due to instability and lack of mental health services during their formative years, Neal said.

The two oldest children, a now 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy, have special needs with severe mental illness. The boy, diagnosed with autism in addition to other conditions, lives in a group home. The girl was recently reported as a runaway, located by law enforcement and is awaiting placement in a facility.

Neal said the recent turn of events are the latest in more than 10 years’ worth of turmoil for his family. Prior to adoption, Neal said, services were only slightly easier to access as foster parents.

“You’re promised you’ll always have the support you need, but it’s not true. We saw this coming. We pleaded for help, and nobody would help us,” he said.

“You think that if you’re in something big, you’re like, ‘OK, yeah, there’s an agency that’ll help us.’ Unfortunately, all the agencies that are supposed to provide these services. … they don’t play well together in Oregon.

“Oregon Health Authority doesn’t play well with DHS. DHS doesn’t play well with the correctional authority. The hospitals don’t play well with anybody,” he said. “It’s all so disconnected.”

Neal said he’s learned the ins and outs of the state health system more than he ever wanted to and gained an unlikely support system in other influencers and social media users. He’s publicly pleaded with state officials — both online and from every scenic viewpoint he can hike to — and more recently began giving “shoutouts” to state leaders and Gov. Kotek.

Calling for care

Describing himself as a positive person, Neal said he’s been a listening ear and an advocate for families in the same situation and has connected with mental health workers and state leaders who applaud what he’s trying to accomplish.

“I hear from social workers, therapists, adoptive parents; parents with kids who have been through something traumatic, and the parents are trying to get them help. … One reason why I want the governor to declare a mental health state of emergency is to force all the organizations to come together,” Neal said.

“She’s done it for the opioid crisis and for the unhoused/homelessness crisis, and so much of all that stems from mental health and not helping our children before they get to that point,” Neal said. “These people who end up on drugs and homeless in these situations, they’re self-medicating because they’re trying to numb the pain from the mental health struggles they’ve had.

“A lot of it stems from early childhood.”

Contacted by the Times, Gov. Kotek’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While he’s fought to protect his children’s privacy, Neal said he decided to utilize his platform to fight for change. He points to sobering statistics from Mental Health America, a national nonprofit focused on promotion of mental health, well-being and illness prevention.

According to a 2023 report by the nonprofit, Oregon ranked 50th out of 51 jurisdictions for behavioral health care accessibility. According to the website this week, Oregon currently ranks 35th for prevalence of mental illness in adults and 49th for afflicted youths.

Standing at a PCT trailhead along Green Springs Highway one recent afternoon, Neal said, “I want to sit down with Governor Kotek and say, ‘This is broken. You need to fix it.’”

Hiking plans

Neal plans to start his first portions of the PCT in early summer to account for summer wildfires and other issues. He estimates the trip will take five to six weeks, depending on weather, fires and “just how stubbornly slow I decide to hike.”

He’s heard from countless social media supporters and other hikers, including Will “Akuna” Robertson, a renowned veteran hiker with a similar focus on mental health. Robinson and others have vowed to hike a stretch of Neal’s PCT hike. Neal hopes to finalize his trek at the start of PCT Days in Cascade Locks, he quips, “because, let’s be real, that would be pretty epic.”

To break up the intensity of his longest and most “stupid hike for stupid mental health” that began with frustration nearly three years ago, Neal said he will seize the opportunity to visit communities along his route, sharing his family’s story and hearing from others.

A recent social media post, Neal said, sums up where his heart will be as he embarks on his upcoming journey.

“For the last six years, my family has been put through the ringer by Oregon’s broken mental healthcare system. We’ve fought every step of the way to get our child the care they need, but we continue to face impossible choices, like being told we may have to relinquish our parental rights just to secure the mental health services they desperately need,” the post reads.

“This isn’t just about my family. Parents across Oregon are being forced into these heartbreaking situations, where they have to choose between their rights as parents and getting help for their children. It’s a systemic failure, and it has to stop.

“I’m calling on Governor Kotek and our state leaders to take immediate action to fix this broken system.”

Should the governor declare the needed state of emergency before he embarks on the PCT this summer, Neal said he’ll still do as he’s been told by countless agencies and “take a hike.”

“If Governor Kotek declares a mental healthcare state of emergency for children and teens before I finish, it would be a great first step,” Neal said Wednesday.

“Once I complete my hike, we could dive into the hard work of advocating for mental health services for Oregon’s children and teens and on starting to make real changes for families across the state.”