Most people who have suffered from mental health challenges can admit that the experience is not pleasant and the process can either make or break you.

For Gakii Mwithali, she chose to fight through the obstacles so as to realise some of the dreams she had for herself.

At the time of vying for Ms Egerton University in 2019, Mwithali was battling mental health issues.

Her winning of the pageant created a platform for her to help other young people who were mentally troubled.

It is through her resilience and determination not to give up that she founded the Growing Up and Liking It (GULI) organisation, which she is using to raise awareness on mental wellness.

GULI began as a club but was later registered as a Community-Based Organization so as to reach as many young people as possible.

For two years, physical advocacy has allowed the organisation to reach not only University students but also students in high school and primary schools in Nakuru County.

During an interview with Mtaa Wangu, Ms Mwithali says she draws her motivation from seeing that young people get to learn about mental health and how they can get help.

"In partnership with PDO, CESSAM and Egerton University, I also held a mental health training for students where they were trained on mental health literacy and emotional CPR. Over 300 students attended", Ms Mwithali adds.

The third-year Clinical Medicine student, has also used her platform to host a beauty pageant dubbed Miss Alika Beauty Pageant, aimed at giving mental health a human face and serve as a fundraising event to enable 200 youth get free mental health services.

“The efforts the organisation is putting in place with the help of other organisations are not enough and there is need to have more political goodwill and support from the government in advocating for mental health awareness especially among the youth,” Ms Mwithali notes.

According to the 23-year-old, it is very important for the government to adopt mental health policies and to integrate mental health into the public health policy.

Through her organisation, she has been able to raise awareness through beauty pageants and hosting mental health awareness training at Egerton University.

Mwithali is also passionate about ensuring the hearing impaired get access to mental health services.

mercykihugu@gmail.com

Former Ms Egerton uses her own mental health experience to help young people

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Mercy Kihugu