UNICEF in Serbia and Maybelline New York join forces to ensure that young people facing mental health problems get support they need

Belgrade, 20 October 21, 2022 - Maybelline New York was the first private sector entity to support the UNICEF youth mental health campaign, wishing to help young people and adolescents aged 16 to 26 receive timely professional support, since 10.8% of students report being in bad mood, and 21.9% report feeling anxious at least once a week.

UNICEF and Maybelline have joined forces and are launching a joint campaign in Serbia, titled Brave Together, in order to ensure young people facing challenges they are unable to deal with receive professional support. Owing to a donation worth RSD 2,370,195 from Maybelline, young people will be able to talk to professionals about the issues that bother them via chat on the svejeok.rs platform every day from 6 to 10 p.m. Help is also available by dialling a toll-free number 116111.

"Adolescence is a period of dealing with various difficulties that may affect mental health. It is also a period in which much can be done to preserve and consolidate the mental health of a young person prior to transition to adulthood. The most important step on this path is open discussion and provision of timely information on all issues. As a company that cares about the wellbeing of the community in which it operates, we want to ensure that young people can easily access free professional help in these challenging times. We are confident that the Everything Is OK platform will make it easier to understand and deal with mental health problems," said Jelena Aleksic, Brave Together project co-ordinator.

The goal of the joint campaign is to educate young people to recognise when to seek help, as no one is completely immune to problems. Depending on how we deal with our issues, how we feel when it seems to us that we are out of our depth, we can have better or worse mental health. It is the recognition of the moment when it is necessary to seek assistance that plays a crucial role in preserving mental health and building capacities to deal with the challenges of growing up.

UNICEF and Maybelline wish to help young people talk freely about the problems and insecurities they face, as the stigma related to mental health presents an additional problem that prevents young people from helping themselves and others. In order to make talking with professionals more accessible and more acceptable, we have made it possible for young people to talk with professionals via chat in the periods they previously selected as the most convenient for them.

"It is very important that they seek advice or professional support from people who are trained to help. Each mental health problem requires attention and we wish to encourage young people to seek help from their family, friends or mental health professionals, because something that is a challenge today can be a familiar situation that does not disturb us tomorrow, if we seek and receive timely professional support”, said Stanislava Vuckovic, Youth Specialist at UNICEF Serbia.

The campaign is supported by the Ministry of Health, the Mental Health Institute and numerous other partners. UNICEF will work with partners from the private sector and the business community to create sustainable solutions for young people and adolescents in Serbia who face mental health problems.