‘It’s OK to not be OK’ — Miss SA Shudu Musida shows support for people struggling with mental health

12 April 2021 - 11:26 By cebelihle bhengu
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Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida gets real about her struggle with mental health.
Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida gets real about her struggle with mental health.
Image: Ashley Marie Photography

Miss SA Shudufhadzo Musida on Sunday pledged solidarity with people who struggle with mental health. She took to Instagram to share that even as Miss SA, she also has her own struggles. 

Musida hosts Mindful Mondays, a weekly live discussion about mental health on Instagram in partnership with the SA Depression and Anxiety Group (Sadag). 

I’m Miss SA but I too have struggles and I can only hope that with the little I do through Mindful Mondays people can know they’re not alone. I’m with them,” she wrote.

She said the discussions help her heal and learn more about mental health.

“I’m not as strong as I’d like to be on most days, and sometimes after Mindful Mondays I find myself learning and healing through the collectiveness of the cause. I think I’m explaining this because I want people to know it’s OK to not be OK but they’re not alone,” she wrote on Instagram.

Her message resonated with many who commended her for raising awareness about mental health issues.

Celebrity chef Siba Mtongana said it is important for people to speak openly about mental health: “I think it's a perfect time to have chosen mental health because it is at its peak. It's about time it's openly spoken about and better understood. It's time to unlearn the great stigmatisation and find better ways of how we can really help without being judgmental first, or better still how do we find better coping mechanisms with it. So we commend you for choosing mental health,” she wrote.

User Evano Yamba said Mindful Mondays have changed his life. “Shudu, thank you for Mindful Mondays. You will never understand how much this has changed me personally. I love you,” he wrote.

Musida committed to tackling mental health on the evening of her crowning as Miss SA in October last year.

I plan to mobilise various stakeholders and the nation so we can bring about educational empowerment through the tackling of issues such as period poverty among young girls, workshops that teach children about the importance of mental health from a young age, and mentorship programmes for young women so they can be empowered to be agents of their own future,” she said at the time.


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