A MENTAL health advocate hoping to use her platform for the greater good, has been invited to compete in the finals of a national pageant for the UK title.

Jodie Griffiths applied for the ‘UK Galaxy pageant’ to try something completely out of her ‘comfort zone’, having never entered a competition or walked a catwalk before.

She said: “I have always been a fan of fashion and modelling, but I never thought this would be something I could possibly do. I have struggled with my weight for a long time, and I was bullied for my appearance in school, so I have never had the confidence to do something like this until now.

“I was afraid of getting changed in P.E. because of comments people made. One student told me on my last day of school that I should kill myself because I was so ugly, that stuck with me.”

The UK finals of the pageant will be held at the Mercure Hotel in Manchester and will see several finalists face different challenges, including walking three separate catwalks, to compete for the winning title.

With the winner receiving the opportunity to win a trip to the Galaxy International Pageant – flights and accommodation included.

The 28-year-old Cheshire-West finalist, originally from Padgate, has only recently undergone a life-changing weight loss, going from 22st6 to her current weight of 11st11, after receiving surgery for a gastric sleeve back in July 2021.

Along with the success of the weight loss which has helped her to grow in confidence, Jodie also found herself pregnant only 3 months after receiving the surgery.

“I didn’t think I would get pregnant because I have struggled with fertility issues for a long time and me and my partner had come to the acceptance that we would have to adopt, but the weight loss must have been a factor in it.”

And the next hurdle for Jodie will be accepting her new body, with her admitting she is already experiencing ‘body dysmorphia’.

“When I am stood looking in the mirror, I don’t see the weight loss, it is only when I look at pictures of myself that I realise how much my body has changed,” Jodie said.

“I have never been on stage before so I am terrified, but I am hoping that by pushing myself to compete, it will help me with my anxiety. But the main reason I want to do this is to build a platform for mental health.”

After experiencing bullying during her time at Padgate Highschool and then dealing with the stress of being a key worker during the pandemic, Jodie has had a rocky journey with her own mental health and wants to educate others of the signs of bad mental health so people can get help sooner rather than later.

“I think after covid and lockdowns, we will find we have a generation of people struggling with their mental health. And I don’t think we have seen the full effects the pandemic has had on people yet.

“My niece was born during the pandemic, she didn’t meet anyone for the first 8 months of her life, there are so many children who missed out on social development in the most crucial early stages of their lives.”

Jodie previously worked as a dispatcher for an engineering company and said how she never received any support from the company during the pandemic at such a stressful time.

She said of how she would regularly check on the drivers she worked with who would have been ‘out and alone on the road all day’ but it was seen as a waste of ‘valuable time’.

And in her current job as a dispatcher for the company Blue Central, based in Wincham, she continues to speak to her employees who spend most of their working day alone, to ‘check in’ on them and ‘make sure they are okay’.

“I think companies need to do more to prioritise mental health in the workplace, and places should be hiring a professional to deal solely with that aspect of the business instead of hiring someone who ‘ticks all the boxes’ but has no real relevant experience in helping people.

“We can’t have the mentality of leave it at the door anymore, this needs to be a priority instead of it always being lining someone’s pocket.”

Jodie will compete for the ‘Mrs Galaxy’ title in March next year, to find out more about the pageant visit their website galaxypageantsuk.com