Walking Across America for Mental Health: An Interview with Tim Perreira

Walk Across America? Some may think he’s crazy, but we know for a fact he’s crazy - crazy dedicated to a meaningful cause. 

An ex- high performing salesman turned wellness coach, Tim Perreira is a leader ending the men's mental health stigma through conversation & community. Tim has transmuted his own struggle with burnout and depression to forge an insightful path for others to follow. Through his business, PER Wellness, he helps men beat burnout, get unstuck, and build healthy habits so they can live fulfilling, purpose-driven lives. 

When Tim Perreira approached us to support his 2800 mile Walk Across America for Men’s Mental Health, we sent him all the Avasol he needed to stay protected during his mission. 60 days in, he is more than halfway to his $50k goal, and you can help him by donating or buying Avasol! We’ve pledged to donate 20% of sales with code MENTALHEALTH to his campaign.

We interviewed Tim to learn more about his mission, from quitting corporate sales to starting a wellness company, and eventually, deciding to press pause on everything to walk across the country. He’s amassed a large following along his journey, helping him to amplify his reach and share his message with a wider audience. Read below to hear his insights as a mental health pioneer:

"What inspired you to walk across America to raise money for Men's Mental Health?"

In 2016, I had everything on paper — great money, new car, great job, living in big cities. But on the inside, I was struggling. I’d been a high performer my whole life — youth sports, academics, college athletics, then into the sales world. But something started to feel off. It was unfamiliar and unsettling, and I thought something was wrong with me. Like I was broken for feeling that way. I didn’t want to burden anyone, so I kept it to myself and tried to push through it — which only led to four more years of suffering in silence. During that time, the material things around me slowly crumbled until I was eventually fired for performance. I didn’t even recognize myself in the mirror anymore.

So I spent the next four years trying to understand what was happening. I found my way out of depression and eventually started a business coaching high-performing men who were dealing with similar struggles.

Then in 2024, I fell into a deep, apathetic depression and experienced suicidal thoughts for the first time. It was the hardest 3–4 months of my life. But I got through it, and I’m grateful it happened. I learned so much about myself and pain going through that. 

A few months later, I heard about someone who had walked across America years ago, and I thought, “That’s it! I’m doing that!” It felt like a lightning bolt shot through my body. Hard to explain, but it was as if the decision had already been made for me. Like I had a clear purpose for the next 6 months of my life.

The walk became both a personal challenge and a deep journey of self-discovery. It’s a symbol of hope, faith, and trust. That even when life feels dark and uncertain, you keep going. And that’s the message I wanted to carry for others, especially men who are quietly struggling too.

"What mental health narratives do you notice in our society that you are hoping to rewrite?"

That strength is silence. That asking for help is a weakness - that it means you’re broken and you’ve lost. That we’re better off keeping it to ourselves and bottling it up. 

I want to rewrite what it means to be a strong man. Strength isn’t running from, burying, or numbing uncomfortable feelings or challenges. It’s learning to sit with them and learn what they are trying to teach us. 

True strength is being able to stay sturdy in the full range of emotions. Not to say “I’m good to feel fun ones, but I don’t want to hard ones.” That’s not strength at all, yet that’s how most men are living.

I want to rewrite that it’s possible to be love, compassion, empathy, & safety, AND strength, grit, toughness, & resilience. It’s not an either/or game.

Feeling “off” isn’t a sign you’re broken. It’s a sign you’re misaligned. And a deeper part of you is trying to get your attention to make a change. 

And lastly, you don’t have to be severely depressed or anxious or bedridden to get help. In fact, I’d rather see people do something way before it gets to that point. There’s just no need to let our discomfort and suffering fester within us. Turn the valve, let it out. 

"What does your mental health check or routine look like? How do you recommend others to maintain a healthy relationship with their mental health?"

My first litmus test is noticing if I can sit in silence with myself. If I struggle to or if I’m reaching for any type of distractions (TV, phone, social media, music, podcasts, drugs, alcohol, etc), then I know I’m not as at ease as I think I am. 

As far as a routine goes, meditation has been a tremendous help. I started 4.5 years ago, and it was very hard at first. But it’s helped me stop identifying with my thoughts and just become aware of them. This is the first step in calming the nervous system and rewiring our brain.

I also stopped drinking 3 years ago. I didn’t have a problem by society’s definition as I only drank one day a week, but I started to notice how it would affect my mood for 3-5 days after drinking. Once I stopped, I started to have way more clarity with life. Sights were crisper, sounds were sharper, and ideas came more easily. It was a no-brainer. 

Some other things… I try to be very intentional with my inputs. I stay away from drugs, I don’t watch the news, I don’t put chemicals on my body (from personal care products), and I limit my time on social media. I listen to music that is uplifting and drives me toward the mood I want to be in. No checking my phone right when I wake up and no phone before bed - I try for at least an hour buffer time at both ends of the day.

Exercise has been a staple since I was 15, when I started training hard for baseball. I strength train and train jiu jitsu regularly. And now, with this walk across America, I’ve seen how powerful walking outside without a phone can be to clear my head. So that will surely be in my practice moving forward.

Nutrition is a huge area of focus for me as well. The food we eat becomes our body and influences our gut health, which impacts our mental state. So I eat clean, whole foods high in protein that I mostly make at home. 

One thing I’ve learned is it’s a constant work in progress. There’s no endgame. It’s more of a mental hygiene practice than anything else. Always having to stay on top of it.

The process goes something like gain awareness, set an intention, take action, see change. 

"How can corporate brands play a better role in promoting mental health awareness and support?"

It starts at the top. Kids don’t listen to what their parents say, they learn from what their parents do. If brands to play a better role, leadership needs to understand it themselves and embody mental health. They need to invest in their OWN inner work. Developing their own emotional fluency and creating true psychological safety in the workplace. Is it focused on for a month? Or is it baked into the culture?

Brands need to first make space internally (policy, leadership, storytelling, modeling) before launching external “awareness” campaigns. We don’t need more one-off campaigns, we need consistency (even when it’s hard). When brands model humanity, they give others permission to do the same. When the brand embodies this at its core, it will show up effortlessly externally.

Otherwise, it’ll just be surface-level nonsense that people will be able to see through. 

"What was the tipping point that led you to switch your career course and dedicate yourself to this cause?"

After being the number 1 rep globally at my company, my performance had slowly been slipping for 3 years. Then I was fired in 2020 from my sales role for performance. It raised a lot of questions about life and priorities. It sent me down this path of deep self-discovery and inner work. I studied everything - psychology, mindset, business, nutrition, exercise, meditation, breathwork, eastern yogic practices, spirituality, consciousness, philosophy - and I got myself out of a really low point of depression.

Through that process, I learned how the human brain worked. I learned how, at the core of everything, we have primal needs. How we all have fears, insecurities, and inadequacies that drive our behavior unconsciously. I started writing online about my experience going through all of this. I started to have a lot of men reach out asking for guidance or sharing similar experiences. I quickly became passionate about it and felt a lot of drive to help men avoid what I went through. 

Closing Thoughts

Mental health is multi-faceted. It’s connected to physical health, emotional health, and spiritual well-being. We’re not meant to live such isolated, individualized lives. We’re a communal species that thrive in connection with others. And our culture is doing everything it can to drive us away from that. Constant comparison on social media, marketing telling us all the things that are wrong with our body or our lives, media outlets showing only news designed to put us into a fearful-survival state… 

It’s on us as the individual to wake up and break out of that cycle. We must raise our individual consciousness so we can heal collectively. 

Thank you Tim, for taking the time to write these beautiful inspiring words. We hope that this touched you just as much as it touched us, and we encourage you to support his cause by using code MENTALHEALTH at checkout!