WATCH Lily Reilly is using social media to speak about mental health and trauma

Lily Reilly is using social media to speak about mental health and trauma. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick

Lily Reilly is using her TikTok following to challenge mental health stigma and promote understanding of the Traveller community

Lily Reilly has built a following of almost 30,000 on TikTok and is using her platform to share her poetry and to promote understanding of the Traveller community while breaking the stigma of mental health and trauma.

By sharing her own experiences, Lily hopes to encourage others to break the stigma that exists in society around mental health, particularly within the traveller community.

Lily explained that telling her story is important because many people relate to it but feel unable to speak out openly.

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She told I Love Limerick, “It’s very important to me to let people know my story because so many people relate to my story but don’t feel like they can actually speak about it.

“I’m hoping to try and break stigmatisation within our community and to let people know that have come from sexual abuse or domestic violence, it is okay to speak about it. You do not have anything to be ashamed of, to talk. If you’re going through anything, depression, anxiety, or mental health problems, do speak to somebody about it.”

She highlighted that the Traveller community has one of the highest suicide rates compared to the general population, which she believes is due to people not feeling like they can talk about their struggles.

Lilly said, “ I feel very, very sad about that, to be honest with you. I feel like everyone should be able to speak about whatever they want. If there’s something that’s bothering them, if there’s something that’s hurting them.”

Lilly spoke about men not being able to show their vulnerabilities and to speak up is a “silent killer” within the Traveller Community. She added, “In our community, men don’t want to talk at all because they’re afraid it will make them look weak or it will make them look vulnerable, where I think it’s a good thing for a man to speak up about his mental health or to explain to somebody how he’s actually feeling, because it’s a silent killer.”

By openly discussing her own experiences of anxiety, depression and childhood trauma, Lily hopes to show others that they are not alone.

Lily told Richard Lynch of I Love Limerick, “Mental health is a silent killer, and more people need to use their platform in a positive way, maybe to share their own experiences with mental health. I’ve had my own experiences with anxiety and depression and my own childhood traumas.

“The reason I did it, to share it online, is because I know it happens so much more than people think, and the amount of people that have actually reached out to me is crazy.

It is crazy the people that reached out to me to say that it has happened to them, but they feel like they can’t speak about it, and men as well. I do feel bad because I think that it’s the stigma within our community not to talk about these kinds of things.”

Lily believes that sharing these stories is essential for healing, encouraging others to speak out. She said, “My platform is, I want to raise awareness for the travelling community, for them to feel like it is okay to speak out about it and that you have nothing to be ashamed about. If something happened to you, it was out of your control. It’s not your fault!”

She had a final message for followers to speak out, saying, “Do tell somebody about it. Do speak to somebody about it. It’s not an easy thing to speak about. It’s not an easy thing to come out with, that something has happened, but if you hold that inside, it’ll absolutely destroy you.”

Lily joined other influencers taking part in the “Come Dine With Us” Christmas special to raise awareness for Breast Cancer, which is due for release on Christmas Day.