10th October is World Mental Health Day and over the last few months I've been working on my Hello Yellow project to help raise awareness and funds for UK based charity, Young Minds. Young Minds UK runs it's own #HelloYellow campaign every October encouraging people to wear yellow on World Mental Health Day and share a selfie using the hashtag to help raise awareness.
I've been taking portraits for other local businesses in and around Uckfield where I'm based, all involving the colour yellow in some way. Each business involved has made a donation to Young Minds in lieu of payment for their professional photo(s) which they can use on their business website or social media which in turn mentions the project and charity helping to increase awareness of the charity and mental health problems in general.
As well as helping Young Minds, it's been a great way for me to get to know more local businesses, helping them out at the same time with the value of a professional portrait to use for their business profile, all while raising funds for such a great cause. The response has been fantastic with everyone being so positive about the charity I chose to work with.
Some of the businesses who took part can be seen below including DWD Freelance from Uckfield, From Victoria shop in Lewes, Oast Farm in Buxted, Mermaid Dental Care in Crowborough and Antonia Thomas, an artist from Brighton and even Agi who isn't local (she's in Bristol) but wanted to join in when I met up with her in London! You can see the full gallery here. It's been such a great success, I will be running this project again next year alongside my yearly donation of a family photography session to a mother who's suffering/suffered from post-natal depression. If you'd like to make a donation to Young Minds UK, please head to https://virginmoneygiving.com/bexphoto.
The following photo is one of my favourites taken for the project and even got me published on Vogue Italia!
If you don't already know, I myself was diagnosed with post-natal depression in spring of 2018, despite my twins being older at 3 years. It was a surprise to find out that post-natal depression is not just an immediate condition of mothers with newborns but can also peak at age 3 or 4 when behaviours can be challenging to deal with, particularly without family locally to help out. 18 months later and I'm now off medication and enjoying life in Sussex, working to build my business offering colourful storytelling photography to families and brands. You can read more about my challenges facing depression here and more about Bex here.