It’s always great to hear positive news from young people we have supported, so it was lovely to hear from Mumtahina Razia who told us that she is running for Young Mayor in Tower Hamlets this year.

She said that taking part in our Mental Health Mentors training programmes inspired her to make Better Mental Health one of her pledges if elected. Please read about her Young Mayor campaign below…

Hello everyone,

My name is Mumtahina Razia, and I am currently one of the candidates for Young Mayor of Tower Hamlets. The people around me have always seen me as an intellectual, charismatic and dependable leader. A source of inspiration. And this is why I applied to become your next Young Mayor: to be a source of inspiration for you too.

I’d like to thank Step Forward for helping me advertise my campaign. They have always been incredibly enthusiastic about helping young people deal with their mental health problems and teaching the youth how to help others with their mental health. A couple of years ago I joined one of their projects that aimed to do just that. The Peer Mental Health Mentor program trained me to be able to give my peers the support they needed. It also really helped me understand the importance of having a good mental health and the incredible effects it can have in our lives.

Just like Step Forward helped me, I’d like to, with their support, help you receive the mental health support you need as well as educate the young people of Tower Hamlets on mental health. Unfortunately, a significant majority of people still are vastly unaware of the effects of mental health and the idea of mental health in general. Living in a BAME majority borough, the stigma around this topic is immense. I want to make sure people start to see mental health at face value.

I’d really like to thank Step Forward once more for supporting me in this year’s elections. Thanks to them, two out of my three pledges to you, better mental health and police-youth relationship, are close to becoming practical reality.
My promises to you are not just empty briberies, I am truly passionate about these causes, and I am lucky to have such an amazing agency support me in them. So, VOTE for me as each vote for me is one step closer to real, practical change.

Vote for MUMTAHINA, Create Your Own Luck!