PROJECT: MENTAL HEALTH CAMPAIGN
SPONSORED BY: BBC CHILDREN IN NEED
PARTICIPANTS: 14
West Belfast Awakens – Diverse Youth NI KICK-OFF Mental Health campaign with Paul Doherty!
Diverse Youth NI launched a potent campaign and received the resolute backing of prominent politician Paul Doherty. Mental health crisis was quietly affecting the lives of young people mostly from BAME communities in West Belfast and environs. What do they want to say? Now is the moment to act decisively and stop playing down the problem.
It was a wake-up call, not just a campaign to raise awareness. Diverse Youth NI elevated mental health in the public discourse via means of workshops, participatory activities, and persuasive messages. They dispelled the stigma, gave people the confidence to ask for assistance, and sparked a broad movement for change in the community.
“It has become imperative that we must take necessary steps to reduce the effect of mental health not by downplaying it but by campaigns and educating people about it,” declared by a member of Diverse Youth Northern Ireland. This poignant quotation encapsulates the campaign’s core values: education over silence and action over indifference.
However, Diverse Youth NI wasn’t successful on its own; Paul Doherty, a political pillar who never wavered, gave the organization a platform and a voice of authority. His dedication to the cause gave the campaign credibility and struck a chord with the locals, which promoted further involvement and participation.
This is only the start. The campaign’s success creates the groundwork for further initiatives. West Belfast has the potential to become a mental health model with sustained work.
