Meet Social Expert and Campaigner Louisa Rose
Lou and I originally met through Mimi’s Bowl, she has helped me grow our online presence and has been a constant source of support and knowledge navigating our rapidly evolving online landscape. Whilst on maternity leave, from her consultancy work, Louisa has been increasingly writing and blogging about how to harness social media positively. She works tirelessly to spread a message of honesty about mental wellbeing, and shares her own parenting journey online @louisanicolerose. She has since gone on to work with We Are Beyond, a grant-giving organisation committed to making a difference to the mental health of young people up and down the UK.
I couldn’t think of anyone whom I would rather work with on why we must talk about mental health. I was lucky to interview Louisa Rose for our community at Mimi’s Bowl; as a parent herself and a campaigner she has such wisdom to share about the pressures parents face today.
Miriam x
Louisa…
As a little background, Louisa Rose is a freelance social media consultant and a mental health advocate. She consults with brands who want to grow their social media audiences in an authentic and meaningful way. Louisa also actively campaigns for better understanding of mental health and emotional wellbeing with the goal of positively impacting the way society thinks about these issues. Louisa lives in London with her husband and two young children.
Alongside her professional work as a social media consultant for brands, Lou delivers sessions and writes about how to nurture healthy relationships with social media. The addictive nature of social and the exposure to negative content within the platforms is the perfect recipe for poor mental health. “With the right knowledge and understanding, it's possible to harness the positive impacts only and swerve the negatives. As a mum, and as someone who has experienced poor mental health from a young age, I'm really passionate about this side of my work”.
“Why I feel strongly about the conversation on mental health for mamas” - Louisa
I have experienced mental ill health for as long as I can remember but when I became pregnant with my first son, I felt ready to speak about it. Loudly. From the moment we try to fall pregnant our mental health can be affected. Fertility challenges, pregnancy complications, hormonal shifts, future planning etc can wreak havoc with our minds. Personally, I felt that this was something left out of the mainstream dialogue about family planning. With my second pregnancy I went to my GP to have it confirmed. There was no 'every pregnancy is different', 'how are you feeling mentally?' etc. As it happened I felt awful, physically and mentally (which was very different to my first) but wasn't given the space to explore it. I think it's time to change that.
Let's open up the conversation, share our experiences and in turn hopefully help others to feel less alone.
What do you love about what you do, to champion mental health?
I wish mental health had been talked about more openly when I was younger than it was. I love the work I do in this field because maybe it'll help to break down the barriers that people feel to speak about what's going on in their head. Every time someone sends me a direct message to share their experiences, or to let me know that by reading or hearing one of my stories they've felt less alone, it motivates me even more to keep doing what I'm doing. I am POSITIVE that we can get to a place where our physical health will be considered just as important as our mental health. It's an uphill struggle but we're getting there.
what’s a typical day look like for you in lockdown?
I just wrote my typical day in lockdown and then deleted it because seeing other people's routines has actually been really challenging for my mental health and I don't want anyone to think that I've either a. got it all together (I don't) or b. think I've got a terrible routine (eek). The comparison culture is ever so present right now but instead of mums with perfect makeup, I'm comparing my routine to everyone else's. So instead of my routine, here's a list of accounts that inspire or educate me during lockdown:
What helps you to re-set?
Leaving the house. By myself. On a sunny day. And finally, our favourite family meal....Mimi's Bowl's Beef Ragu. It's on repeat in our house just now!
Keeping boredom at bay?
I'm currently watching, Fauda, Killing Eve, Homeland, Narcos and I am reading, American Dirt
Future plans?
The most exciting plan for 2020 for me was a wellbeing festival that I had planned for children between 3years old and 6 years old but unfortunately, thanks to Covid_19, plans are on hold. So I'm looking forward to reorganising that at some point!
I'll also be delivering more sessions in schools (when they go back!) that teach young people how to manage their time on social media in a way that protects their mental health.
You'll also find me on here chatting about motherhood and mental health.
And I'll be back to my day job of a social media consultant soon too after my maternity leave ends. Ooft, just realised that's quite a lot!
contacts for Louisa
www.louisanicolerose.com | @louisanicolerose
read more about Louisa’s Tips for using social media positively
more information about Beyond and the work that they do
https://wearebeyond.org.uk/about-us