Dallas (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Annette Addo-Yobo uses her platform to help other young people shine.
“Your new Miss Dallas is Annette Adoyobo, who won a $1,000 scholarship!”
Addo-Yobo expressed pure joy and excitement as she walked across the stage to win Miss Dallas 2023, but what wasn’t visible behind that smile was her mental health and wellbeing. It’s been a long struggle.
“Mental health affects people who wear the crown and look pretty. said Mr.
Addo-Yobo is a pioneer. She is the third black woman in the Miss Dallas Park Cities organization to earn the title of Miss Dallas. But she’s also breaking down barriers when it comes to mental health.
“I grew up in a culture where mental health was often stigmatized, so I was embarrassed to talk about my mental health,” Addo-Yobo said. I found it difficult, but reflecting on my experience and talking to others made me realize that I was not alone.”
Addo-Yobo immigrated to the United States from Ghana with his parents at a young age. It was her own family battles that inspired her to pursue her psychology education.
“Growing up with spectral siblings and immigrant parents, we have a lot of uncommunicated knowledge and autism is not a very common diagnosis in Ghana.” He had small body dementia and passed away almost two years ago, which has also caused him mental problems.”
Now as Miss Dallas, she uses her platform to share her stories about her struggles with mental health and inspire other young people to seek help when they’re struggling. is currently the Texas Ambassador for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
“NAMI has a lot of free resources that many people don’t know about,” she said. “Especially during Black History Month, they share the hope of a program focused solely on de-stigmatizing mental health in the black community.”
Addo-Yobo hopes to use her platform to provide critical mental health resources to at-risk youth and break down the stigma around mental illness.
“Such conversations are very taboo to say, ‘I’m battling depression’ or ‘I seem to have depression,’ and are often overlaid with laziness or ‘It’s because you’re It’s just a stage of getting over it,” she said. ”
She is now in training and ready to head to a local school to talk to young people about mental health as part of NAMI’s Ending The Silence program.
According to a CDC report, 60% of female students will experience persistent sadness and hopelessness in 2021. Also, 30% of girls say they are seriously considering suicide. That’s a 60% increase from just 10 years ago.
“It’s very sad. I started noticing symptoms of depression in high school, but it wasn’t diagnosed until much later.”
She hopes that by sharing her story, other young people will feel safe asking for help.
“Miss Dallas is vulnerable and helped me share my story so that the young girls who see me on my page don’t just see the pretty girl in the crown.” I meet people who know what I’m going through.”
Addo-Yobo will compete in the Miss Texas contest in Richardson at the end of June. If she wins the Miss Texas state title, she will be competing for Miss America.
