Walk to raise mental health awareness
"People need to know that they are the power; they can change the negative to the positive and change their lives for the better."
Unsuicidal Thoughts is inviting everyone to a walk pertaining to mental illness on Saturday, 7 September.
The walk, which will be a bid to raise awareness for mental health issues, will start at 9am at the University of Johannesburg in Auckland Park, and progress to the Department of Health.
“The aim of this walk is to gain support and understanding of mental illness so that society’s judgmental attitude to it can be minimised through the sharing of knowledge among the participants. We are not only looking at changing society’s views but want to lend a helping hand to those who are dealing with mental illness, and to create a support structure,” said Boitumelo Mancwe, the founder of the initiative.
Boitumelo said they also plan to alleviate mental illness by having annual walks, visiting schools and educating the youth in particular about this disorder.
Unsuicidal Thoughts is a campaign established to raise awareness of mental illnesses, mainly suicide and depression. It is a platform that allows individuals to speak out without being judged.
“We exist to educate individuals about being depressed and having suicidal thoughts. We allow individuals to speak out without being scared of judgement, because society has defined depression and suicide as weaknesses, resulting in people dying in silence. People need to know that they are the power, they can change the negative to the positive and change their lives for the better. All they need to do is shout out for help and they will be acknowledged,” added Boitumelo.
Unsuicidal Thoughts aims at listening to and helping individuals, showing them support and redefining their thoughts.
“People can follow us on our social media platforms – Unsuicidal Thoughts on Facebook, @unsuicidal101 on Twitter and unsuicidalthoughts on Instagram. We are always ready to lend an ear and immerse ourselves in people’s situations, so that we have an understanding which will enable us to advise accordingly. We always try to motivate our correspondents by not denying what they going through. Instead, we teach them how they can overcome their problems by working together to attack the core problem, and then build from there. We always remind them that they carry the power to change, to find solutions and tell them that if they believe they absolutely can conquer any issue. That is our role as a team,” said Boitumelo.
