Cacherel Mirjah Mercer becomes YoungMinds Ambassador

Topic: Our ambassador Cacherel Mirjah Mercer

Cacherel, a professional dancer from East London and recent Love Island winner, is joining YoungMinds to help young people, particularly young men, feel confident talking about their mental health. During his time on Love Island, Cacherel spoke candidly about how he was feeling and was moved to tears after a difficult recoupling. Having been vulnerable during his time on the show, Cacherel hopes to use his platform to create more safe spaces for young men to open up, something he says would have helped him when growing up.

To launch his ambassadorship, Cacherel visited a secondary school and spoke with a group of boys currently studying A Levels. They discussed the challenges they’ve experienced talking about mental health, social pressures to fit in and positive role models.

One of the students told Cacherel how hard he finds talking about his mental health. "It's quite difficult sometimes to express my emotions because I've had some bad experiences in the past with my friends. I'd say something and it's like they don't really care. Now, I feel like I have a few friends I can open up to, or I use playing the keyboard as my therapy."

I’m proud to be joining YoungMinds as an ambassador. Having struggled with anxiety myself, I know how hard it can be to reach out or even recognise when you need support. There were times in my life where I didn’t know how to express my emotions and I know that’s something lots of young people experience, especially young men. It was really meaningful to sit down with the students and hear about their experiences and the challenges they’ve faced growing up. By working with YoungMinds I hope I can encourage young men to reach out and open up about their feelings. Support is out there, and nobody should ever feel like they have to face things on their own.

Cacherel
We’re excited to welcome Cacherel as a YoungMinds Ambassador. The way he shared his emotions so openly during his time on Love Island has made him a powerful role model for many. More young people than ever before are in need of support. We have a lot of work ahead of us but together with Cacherel we can fight for a better future for all young people.

Abigail Ampofo, Interim Chief Executive at YoungMinds

As an ambassador Cacherel will work with young people across YoungMinds’ youth programmes and get involved in campaigns calling for change to support and improve young people's mental health.

For further information and for interview requests please contact press@youngminds.org.uk or call 0203 861 2072.  