Tanya Marwaha

Tanya is an award-winning young person that decided to pioneer youth mental health awareness during the pandemic from her bedroom by founding a youth-led peer community Championing Youth Minds, supporting over 800 young people globally.

She has lived struggling with her mental health from a young age after developing long-term disabilities, Fibromyalgia and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, therefore she is passionate about advocating about non-visible disabilities. After being undiagnosed for 7 years, and being diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety during this time, Tanya understands and raise awareness about the interconnection between the mind and body.

Navigating mental health support as a young female in the South Asian community has especially been a challenge due to the stigma attached to mental health, she works hard to breakdown barriers and raise awareness of the cultural sensitivities around such topics. Furthermore, both mental health and disability are less spoken about in the South Asian community and many believe that they are caused by a lack of faith in God and/or the evil eye - Tanya has lived experience of educating her community and dismissing such traditionally held assumptions.

She advocates for mental health education for young people and empowers others to care for their wellbeing and use their voices. As a young person herself, Tanya understands the gap in mainstream education that fails to equip young people with the necessary awareness and skills for their to feel confident and empowered to take care of their mental wellbeing and ask for support.

Tanya now works with a range of organisations and charities to aid them in supporting young people across the UK and globally. At the Baton of Hope UK, Tanya is leading the Education Charter, to support young people in schools, colleges and universities.