#DoItForYourSelfie | Mental Health Ireland Campaign

I was in touch with one of the DCU students who are running this online campaign and I was only delighted to get involved. As many of you know, mental health is really important to me so I will do what I can to raise awareness and get people talking about it! 

The campaign is simple. It's 30 Days of Selfies. It started on the 1st of November, I'm a day late to the band wagon, but it doesn't matter! Your 30 days start when you post your first selfie. You even get to challenge 5 friends to take part too! Why not? 

If my part in this campaign can help even one person to talk about their mental health, to get the conversation going, or even just to brighten their day a little, I will have been successful. 

Mental health is so, so important. It is vital to take care of your own and to talk about the subject in general, because we never know who is suffering, and who might be listening. I can't say much for other parts of the world, but Ireland holds a massive stigma around the topic of mental health. But I am delighted to say that so many young people are raising awareness on the topic now and trying to get others talking! 

It's a goddamn real thing!

I suffer hugely with my mental health and I often use this blog platform to talk about it. I go to counselling, and I don't hide that. I talk to my friends and sometimes my family about things that I'm struggling with. They listen. They even sometimes offer some really great advice. I go to yoga, and people ask me how it went. I tell them it was great, it really helps me to let go of my stressful week and to loosen out all of the knots of tension and anxiety in my body that have built up over the week.

We all need to talk about how we are coping, how we aren't coping, and how we can help one another. But we also need to talk about mental health in MANY circumstances. I watched the end of Louise O'Neill's documentary on RTE and a victim of rape explained to her that one of the things that she finds most important is that you cannot separate the trauma of rape and mental health. These two cannot be separated. Just like you cannot ignore the effects many traumatic experiences have on mental health.
We must have this conversation.

Here is my selfie from Day One!

I thought it apt as my sister is graduating from DCU today and this project is being run by DCU graduates.

Join me and many others in this campaign. Let's get the conversation going,

#DoItForYourSelfie 

What's your story?