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Meet April Paige of Check-In Foundation in Arvada

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Today we’d like to introduce you to April Paige.

April, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
April Paige lost her younger brother, Dustin, to suicide on April 13, 1998. She remembers the day before his death like it was yesterday.

Fast-forward to 2016. April and Clay had been living together for a year and a half, and their relationship had a bright outlook. Together they re-opened Clay’s business and we’re working together to develop a better way of life that surrounded around their passions: mountain biking and volunteering to get kids on bikes. Their love for each other was hard to miss, and they carried this vibrate energy both individually and together as a couple. On February 4, 2016, that all came crashing down. Clay had driven to one of his favorite local downhill mountain biking spots and took his life.

The Check-In Foundation was founded by April Paige in 2016 after the devastating loss of Clay Watson (partner) and her brother Dustin. The foundation’s name spawned from a training tool used by April and Clay for their dog, Bailey. You would often hear one of them asking Bailey to “check‑in” with them. After the death of Clay, the phrase “check‑In” took on a deeper meaning and April’s new mission was clear.

The Check-In Foundation was created as a tool to help navigate the process of healing. It aims to serve as a reminder to check in with one another, to reach out, to educate, and to create awareness of the signs of CTE/TBI head injuries and mental health disorders.

We understand that suicide is still a taboo topic in society, and that there are parallels between action sports, CTE/TBI, head concussions, and the rate of suicides. In addition to the foundation’s mission, we offer a safe place to find support without the fear of shame or embarrassment. The Foundation has set up the Clay Watson Mental Health Therapy Fund, to help anyone 18 years or older get treatment. Often there are financial barriers obtaining counseling and we want to give others the opportunity to a better life both mentally and physically.

Has it been a smooth road?
Nothing worthwhile is ever easy. I took Bethany Hamilton’s motto of, “I don’t need easy, just need to know it’s possible.”

I wish I can say we have tons of money flowing in to be out in our community daily, on the frontline, spreading our message, but the reality is, we are all volunteers, we all have full-time jobs. We work on our free time to build a foundation, so we can give back. In many ways, we are on the frontlines fighting the mental health battle. With saying that though, we have made huge strides in our community every chance we get.

We attend bike events, educate the community on action sports and mental health. We built a partnership with the Colorado High School Cycling League where we attend their bike practices at different high schools throughout the state and get young people talking about mental health and provide resources to them. We have successfully put on a bike event in Boulder, Colorado called the HuckFest, this brought people within the community to come to play on bikes as well as create a safe place for those who struggle. We put on group rides, skills clinics, hikes, snow days, we just want people to be surrounded by those who understand, but out in nature.

One of our biggest challenges is funding. Obtaining funding to employ at least one full-time employee. 98% of our donations come from private donors. The challenge is working full-time to keep the lights on and working full-time for the foundation. All the funds we have, we give right back to the community. we continue to spread our message and give back to those who can’t see the light. We have provided over $4000 in helping people obtain treatment from a licensed therapist.

Other challenges, building a strong support community for myself. I also struggle with sharing. It’s hard, I am a pretty open person, but I realize I internalize the loss of Clay. It changed me. Even if you say you are alright, it’s likely one is not alright. I definitely am not the person I was when Clay was alive. I needed help and I was so afraid to ask for help as I didn’t want to burden others. After creating the Foundation, I saw this same struggle for those who have mental health disorders. I still need strong people who believe in me in my life, and I realized that is what I needed to create for others. Full circle!

Personally, I believe in what we are doing, we have already changed lives, we have already saved lives, I know that it will all work out in the long run. I can’t tell you how I just believe in our work, the team and the lives we lost to mental illness. I believe in “checking in” with one another, creating a stronger minded community, to ensure others they are not alone. It does get better…

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Check-In Foundation – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
The Check-In Foundation aims to raise awareness about the connection between Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and mental health by increasing prevention efforts, offering support, and education in action sports communities.

When creating the Check-In Foundation, I wanted to be different from the beginning. You will even notice, that our colors are not the same colors that represent mental illness. This was a conscious decision. We made our name known in the mountain bike community, this was home for me and it just made sense. I spoke to so many people who I rode bikes with. After Clay took his life, strangers would come up to me and share their stories, these were people I highly respected, pro athletes, racers from the action sports world. It made me realize that often we are so stuck on our physical fitness, that the brain is often ignored. So we started showing up at events people wouldn’t expect to see us at. We set ourselves apart from other organizations based on our mission statement as well as being mental health ambassadors in our community. We all have taken mental health first aid training, which is an 8-hour class that promotes and supports mental health education and wellness for Coloradans. The Foundation also paid to get coaches of the Colorado High School Cycling League at their coaches summit that took place in April. We create events to get people outside, get them talking and build a community so people have support.

What am I most proud of? This is so difficult to answer because there is so much I am proud of. But, the people who have come forward. The foundation wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the community who supports us, who believes in us and who trust us to come to us for help. Also, I would say successfully pulling off a mountain bike event. My background is far from an event planner, but, we manage to have the Huckfest for 2 years in a row. Fun times for all and all in support of mental health.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I am what I call Colorado grown. I’ve lived here my whole life. I love the number of outdoor activities we all have access too, the freedom to go from city life to mountain life in an hour. The culture of Colorado has changed and I really love that about this place.

What do I like least? Growth has created more traffic. We all would like less traffic, right?

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Image Credit:
Austin Smart, Clayton Shank, Meg Foster

Getting in touch: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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