‘Young people are all special’
Rising pop star Eleni C wants all young people to know that they are special and that they shouldn’t ever let anyone take their sunshine away.
London-based Eleni has been able to resume her virtual tour of schools, delivering an important mental-health message in these deeply-troubling times.
One of the first schools she visited this year was the Cottesmore School in Crawley: “They were a lovely bunch of students. They were very interactive and asked lots of questions. They were between year nine and 11 and were great. Prior to the onset of Covid, I would go out to schools promoting my music and also speaking to schools about mental health. Since Covid decided to join us, I had to put everything on hold, but towards the end of last year, my school tour manager arranged for me to take the tour online. I did one before Christmas, and I have just done my first two schools this year.”
The format is to mix music with her thoughts on mental health: “Mental health is always on the cards, but at the same time the school might ask me to talk about peer pressure or cyber bullying or social media. But I just feel so passionate about mental health. It is absolutely pivotal to everything. I grew up seeing loved ones going through depression and anorexia and addiction and I always swore to myself that if I was ever in a position to have a platform to talk about it and to make a difference, I would.
“I just believe that good mental health is so pivotal. We all have something special about ourselves and should never allow anybody to take our sunshine away.”