Wear Your Label wants to change the way clothing defines people, and instead give people the opportunity to control what their clothing portrays. A huge problem around issues of mental health is the societal stigma that closely accompanies it. Both sufferers of mental illness, Kyle MacNevin and Kayley Reed found understanding by talking to each other and devised a plan to provide others with the same opportunity.
MacNevin and Reed met when they were both working with a mental health organisation in their hometown of Fredericton, New Brunswick. They opened up to each other about their personal experiences with mental health and realised how rare it was to feel comfortable enough to do so. Reed, who struggles with eating disorders, and MacNevin, a sufferer of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and ADHD, both felt that their fear of opening up was what they found particularly debilitating about their respective conditions.
They agreed that the stigma surrounding mental illness held them back from getting help. To allow mental illnesses sufferers the opportunity to define their conditions, the pair came up with Wear Your Label, clothing to create conversations about mental health.
“Today, we unite tens of thousands of people in a movement to end the stigma,” says the team, adding that the idea will keep growing as long as stereotypes about mental health exist.
Wear Your Label collaborated with Joe Fresh for their latest project, Fresh Perspective. The project celebrates Mental Health Awareness Month, which hopes to raise more awareness in Canada and beyond.
