Kylie Versoza urges everyone to get help "before it's too late"
Over the years, Miss International 2016 Kylie Versoza has been championing mental health largely due to her personal experience dealing with issues related to it. Last weekend, she shared on Instagram about choosing this as her advocacy "even when I was discouraged and told to focus on more visible and popular advocacies." She also revealed that she was "diagnosed as clinically depressed" four years ago with only her family knowing about her diagnosis.
"This is for everyone who’s suffered from depression, mood disorders, anxiety, bipolar disorder or any form of mental illness," Kylie wrote. "You are not alone.
"I once thought I was crazy, or maybe I still am. Who knows, we all need a bit of insanity to succeed. But it’s okay. Being honest about how you feel doesn’t make us weak, it makes us human.
"Get help. Speak to someone. Let’s speak up more about mental health before it's too late," she wrote.
Aside from Kylie, many celebrities, including the It Girls, have spoken up about the importance of mental health and being conscious of it in our daily interactions with other people, especially on social media.
Anne Curtis tweeted, "Depression is real and we never know what people might be going through every day. Be kind. Take time to talk. Ask how your friends are... It just might make a difference."
Belle Daza also shared the same sentiment via her IGTV, "Talk to the person you love and ask them 'Are you okay?'... Validate them and say 'I hear you, I see you, I feel you.'"
Solenn Heussaff also opened up and wrote about her "own struggles with mental health just last year." The Taste Buddies host revealed on her blog that "because of the stress I was putting on myself, I got an anxiety attack at work. I still remember that during the attack, my face looked like it was melting and I had to go to the hospital."
She then talked about her journey of self-discovery and healing, and what she learned about the experience. "Take care of yourself, because that’s what you deserve, not because you have an “image” to take care of."
If you think you may have depression or know someone with depression, you can contact the Department of Health's 24-hour suicide prevention hotline, Hopeline, 804-4637; 0917-5584673; and 2919 for Globe and TM subscribers.
You may also call Crisis Line for free and anonymous counseling through: (02) 893-7603, 0917-8001123, or 0922-8938944. You can also join SOS Philippines on Facebook, a support group founded for survivors of suicide loss and Filipinos undergoing mental health ailments like depression and bipolar disorder.
With additional reporting by Ysabel Y. Yuzon
This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
