LIFT Bhangra presents #LIFTINGMINDS

We read something that said "shame dies when stories are told in safe places". LIFT Bhangra are creating that safe place within our Bhangra community with our #LIFTINGMINDS project.

Priya Balagopal said that mental illness is, "an invisible disease compounded by stigma and ignorance on a global level. This pushes people into dark places of shame and silence."

Since launching this project in October 2019, the amount of support we have received has made it clear that struggling with your mental health is nothing to be ashamed and silent about. It is perfectly okay to not be okay!

Only someone that has struggled with their mental health truly understands exactly how difficult it can be. That being said, without sharing first hand experiences, we can't even expect for others to understand. For that very reason, we have created this blog.

With our #LIFTINGMINDS project, we are uniting the Bhangra community to quite literally lift minds and open eyes to the realities of battling mental health issues. It is a very real issue that people are struggling with all around us.

At our London Charity Class in November 2019, we took a big risk in our closing speech by asking people to raise their hands if they had at some point struggled with their mental health, or if they still were struggling with their mental health. The number of people - boys and girls - that raised their hands and opened up to us was truly breathtaking. The number of people who had also supported someone struggling with their mental health was also remarkable.

There are so many stories within our community alone that deserve to be heard.

Mental health, particularly in the South Asian community, continues to be stigmatised. People struggling are often misunderstood, and the people around them often feel helpless and don't know how to help. Lets come together to fix this. Lets come together as a community to share ideas, thoughts, experiences, stories and insights on mental health, so that we are able to give people struggling the support, understanding and care that they really deserve.

To submit your entries, please email liftbhangra@gmail.com with the subject #LIFTINGMINDS If you would like to keep your entries anonymous, that is perfectly okay, just let us know in your email.

Thank you so much to everyone that has supported the project so far!