By MATT HYNDMAN

Vancouver schoolteacher Michael Schratter finishes an around-the-world cycling trip in support of mental health awareness on Saturday, Nov. 12 with a home-stretch ride that takes him past Langara College.

Schratter will start the day at the South Delta Recreation Centre at 8 a.m. with stops at the Richmond Oval at 10 a.m. and Langara College at 11 a.m. The public are encouraged to join him on their bikes at any of the stops.

The trip, dubbed Ride Don't Hide, began 15 months and nearly 40,000 km ago and will conclude with a celebration at Rogers Arena at noon, featuring Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis and several Canucks alumni.

The Ride Don't Hide campaign has currently raised over $64,000 and is still geared towards reaching its final goal of $100,000.

Schratter, who struggles with bipolar disorder, set out on the trip trying to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness that he has seen personally.

“It’s the ostracization of those who don’t understand it,” Schratter says.

“It’s the loved ones telling you ‘Why don’t you just say you dropped out because your grandmother was sick?’ It’s like, wait a sec, is there a mark against my character? I found that really unjust and unfair, fear was running the program.”

The journey was born out of another painful aspect of Schratter’s life

In 1993 his father, who in years past had taken the family on bike trips through B.C. and Europe, died in a bicycle accident. Schratter dealt with his grief by cycling across Canada, and after having a great time doing it, told himself he would one day cycle around the world.

But it wasn’t until 1996 when Schratter had a manic episode while studying at UBC that he decided to put the two together.

“I had this idea that if I was going to cycle around the world, I would do it to draw awareness and battle the stigma, the prejudice, that surrounds mental illness.”

Schratter says the source of the stigma is in the way we are hard-wired to label the behaviour of those around us.

"We fear what we don’t understand, and we hate what we fear," Schratter says.

The Vancouver schoolteacher says the myriad of slasher films dating back to Psycho and TV shows like C.S.I. and Dexter reinforce that fear. “There’s nothing scarier than the human monster. Wherever you look, people with mental illness or psychological disturbances are portrayed as dangerous.”

Michael Schratter rides through Mexico near the start of his around-the-world bike ride in support of mental health awareness. Photo courtesy of MICHAEL SCHRATTER

Different countries and cultures take on mental health issues in different ways

Schratter discovered on his trip that poorer cultures are actually better suited to dealing with mental illness. “You’ve got larger families living in houses, you’ve got that support, that love. No one looks after you better than your own genes.”

Of the countries he visited, Schratter found Australia to be the most progressive in dealing with the problem.

In 2000 a politician there started Beyondblue, an initiative that Schratter says has opened up frank discussion about depression and other problems.

“There’s less fear in their eyes when I bring it up. That’s how you measure it, that’s the litmus test.”