adminNEWLY-CROWNED Miss University of Zimbabwe, Karen Katsande, is a model on a mission.
Her pledge, to fight mental health challenges among the youths, is a clear sign she has her peers at heart.
The campaign demonstrates Karen’s desire to save young people from mental health challenges.
The beauty queen has also demonstrated that she is in touch with topical issues haunting the youths.
Young people’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being should never be taken for granted.
As they grow up, children from divided families endure a lot of abuse and bottle it all.
Some of these issues will certainly come to haunt them at some point, if not addressed.
According to psychologists, mental health challenges stem from childhood abuse, trauma and neglect.
Overseas, mental health issues are fuelled by racism, segregation and extreme poverty.
Some of these factors do apply to us as Zimbabweans and we can’t afford to overlook them.
Now that the reigning Miss UZ has vowed to take this fight head on, she needs our support.
What makes her fight relevant is that most cases of mental health issues are being worsened by social media.
Cyber-bullying is real and people need to address this matter seriously.
It’s quite refreshing to note that we have young influencers, including the newly-crowned Miss UZ, making a pledge to help victims of cyber-bullying.
Failure to handle such issues has led to many youngsters doing the unthinkable, after succumbing to pressure.
Miss UZ’s vow to fight this is indeed a sign that Zimbabwe is endowed with models with brains.
This is the “beauty with brains” princess the modelling industry has been yearning for over the years.
To ensure that she meets her goals, Karen certainly needs partners on board in the form of psychologists, occupational therapists, counsellors, only but to mention a few.
Bullying is hard to handle since it can lead to personality changes and hopelessness.
In some cases, failure to handle cyber-bullying can lead to depress, suicide and poor judgment in life.
All these are signs of bad mental health, which the model has vowed to tackle.
As it stands, there is more to this issue which has seen some of the youngsters keep themselves clear of social media.
In this era, research and most of the business are now done on social media.
Victims of cyber-bullying-related matters should come forward to ensure the campaign yields results.
What makes her campaign worth talking about, and being appreciated, is that it comes at a time when the cyber law has been enacted.
Victims or would-be victims of cyber-bullying, which has serious psychological effects, need our support all their time.
All the young people need to do is to set goals and remain focused as well as avoid bad company.
Peer pressure is another issue, which young people should learn to handle.
Exercising and a proper diet can work wonders in this campaign.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter