Walk In My Shoes
As Walk in My Shoes, the flagship awareness-raising campaign of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, gets ready to celebrate World Mental Health Day this week with the return of its WIMS Live initiative, the campaign’s newest ambassador has been announced.
Grace Mongey Gernon a mental health advocate, will be working with Walk in My Shoes over the coming year to promote youth mental health and to tackle mental health stigma.
Using her skills and experience as a social media content creator, Grace from Tallaght will help Walk in My Shoes to amplify their message and support them in promoting positivity online through campaigns such as #MindYourSelfie and WIMS Live.
Grace is a passionate mental health advocate who openly shares her mental health journey, which began in her teens, with her large online following. Through her ambassadorship with Walk in My Shoes, Grace will act as a role model for young people throughout the country to encourage them to speak openly about their mental health, to practise wellbeing and to challenge mental health prejudices.
Speaking about her appointment as ambassador, Grace said: “I am delighted to be working with the Walk in My Shoes team over the next year as they continue to provide invaluable mental health resources and educational tools for young people and their parents and teachers across Ireland.
Putting wellbeing in the frame: Mental health advocate Grace Mongey Gernon announced as ambassador for national mental health awareness campaign, Walk in My Shoes Photos Marc O’Sullivan
“My own journey with mental health began in my teens when I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression at 17 years of age, and having experienced this at such a formative, critical age, I know how important it is to have resources, tools, campaigns and supports out there that are particularly targeted towards young people.
“The Walk in My Shoes campaign is an incredible investment in youth mental health, and I am excited to be part of it. I want to encourage and empower young people to learn about their own mental health and the ways in which they can bring positive wellbeing practices into their day-to-day lives.”
The announcement of Grace Mongey as the latest Walk in My Shoes ambassador comes as WIMS Live, an exciting online programme of wellbeing events, activities and curated content, is set to return this year to mark World Mental Health Day.
Running from October 10 to October -16, this year’s WIMS Live theme focuses on shining a light on the lesser understood or commonly misrepresented mental health difficulties such as psychosis, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
