Former festival queen talks mental health
Four years after winning the Miss Jamaica Festival Queen competition, Kyesha Randall is now focused on a mental-health project which she hopes will help create “a safe space” for all Jamaicans who “suffer in silence, whether from their own mental-health struggles or those of a loved one”.
“I am a silent sufferer, and navigating my emotions and mental wellness has become a part of my daily life. Some days are better than others, and during COVID, it became increasingly difficult to get a hold on my anxiety,” Randall said.
“I hated the feeling, and I knew there had to be others like me who were on the same emotional roller-coaster, if not worse. I was honestly just looking for a community of supporters, and God led me here to be the person who provided what I was looking for,” she added.
Randall, who represented the parish of St James, was the Festival Queen 2016 winner. Her latest project, Mental Matters, is an online discussion forum that was designed to give persons the opportunity to share and learn about mental health and wellness in Jamaica. She told the JIS that the project was her way of revamping Motivate JA by focusing on an issue that she could personally relate to and has seen rise to the forefront in recent times due to COVID-19.
Motivate JA was targeted at having an impact on the lives of high-school students who were in need of emotional support.