TikTokContinuing on the conversation from earlier this month surrounding World Mental Health Day, we talked to Mark Donelly, the face behind the name of the mental health advocating clothing brand, @HUHClothing. HUH is an Irish clothing company raising awareness around the conversation of mental health. Mark’s page not only highlights his success as a small business owner, but prides itself in normalising the conversation about looking after our own mental health. We caught up with Mark to hear his thoughts on the importance of self care, and how he feels advocating for such an important topic on TikTok.
Q: What first inspired you to talk about mental health on TikTok?
A: What inspired me to talk about mental health on TikTok was the newfound popularity of the app back in 2019. I noticed that this new platform was full of everything and anything and I realised that it was the ideal platform to try to grow a business and share a very important message both instantly and for free. As a keen businessman and mental health advocate, I could not only see the potential this app had for me and my future businesses but I could see how easy it was, from start to finish, to produce and publish something of interest. Over the years, I personally have struggled with my mental health and the reasons for utilising TikTok to share the mental health message are the same reason I have started HUH. I wanted to reach the masses with powerful messaging about normalising mental health illnesses and struggles. Through TikTok, I have reached thousands upon thousands of people worldwide!
Q: How do you approach destigmatizing mental health issues in your content and conversations?
A: My approach to tackling the stigma surrounding the topic of mental health issues through my content is to make it as relatable, casual and informal as possible. I like to think I have a good balance of normalising the mental health message/issues along with including humour and relatability without being offensive, insulting or naive. By normalising these conversations, by talking about my own struggles and by engaging with our customer base on a daily basis, we work on chipping away at any stigma that is maybe hanging over mental health throughout Ireland and beyond.
Q: What is your favourite TikTok you have made to date and why?
A: My favourite TikTok to date was hand delivering a package to a young customer in Knocknagree, Kerry. This TikTok was filmed after receiving a handwritten letter to my office from a young customer in Kerry who was suffering with their own mental health and physical health challenges, battling on a daily basis. Abbie Herlihy, an absolute inspiration to us all at such a young age suffers with juvenile arthritis which has made her youth incredibly painful and difficult. Abbie has been fighting with this “invisible” illness for years now and with her being such a keen sportswoman, it really had taken a huge toll on her well-being. After hearing Abbies story, I packed a box up and made the trip down to County Kerry in the HUH MINI.
Q: What role do you believe self-care plays in maintaining good mental health, and how do you incorporate it into your daily life?
A: Self-care is everything, it should be practised on a daily basis and comes in so many different forms. No matter what your form of self-care is, I think it is so incredibly important to try and set time aside for it every single day. For me personally, self-care comes in several forms including the gym, walking in nature, cooking, spending time with family and friends and ice baths! I personally will set time aside selfishly in order for myself to have time to tick a few boxes on my list of self-care to dos. Self-care is incredibly important for my mental health as I believe when I am at my best both physically and mentally, everything around me benefits from it. For example, when I am in a time of good headspace, family time is better, work is easier, working out is not this massive chore and the smaller things in life don’t grate on me as much as they would if I wasn’t putting myself first. I am a huge believer in carving out time on a daily basis to do what you need to do in order to stay on track. Find what works for you and double down on it! I incorporate this into my daily life by having strong routines, keeping prepared and setting strong boundaries with myself. My forms of self-care are non-negotiables and I include them in a way where it more so happens organically throughout my day without any friction or barriers to entry which stop or prevent me from doing what I need to do.
