Selena Gomez Is Honored by Stanford For Her Mental Health Advocacy

Following the release of his breakout documentary “Selena Gomez: My mind and I“The founder of Rare Beauty is receiving national recognition for her work as an advocate for mental health. On November 10, Selena Gomez was honored with the inaugural Mental Health Innovations (“Mentee”) Award for Excellence in Mental Health Advocacy at the Mental Health Innovations Summit, hosted within the Stanford School of Medicine. According to the Stanford Healthcare Innovation TeamGomez was chosen for her “contributions to mental health, particularly her fight against shame and stigma, as well as her commitment to expanding access to resources as a social entrepreneur and pioneer in digital mental health.”

The new documentary, which follows Gomez’s journey with depression and bipolar disorder, attempts to shed light on the ups and downs of mental illness with a candor many wouldn’t expect from such a well-known star. Gomez tells fans of some of his most vulnerable moments, reads excerpts from his own journal, and makes an effort to break down some of the stigma surrounding diagnoses like his. Now, with the creation of the rare impact backgroundGomez is going beyond just raising awareness and raising funds to make mental health resources more accessible to underrepresented groups.

On her website, Stanford adds that the former Disney Channel star “inspires millions with her art, but Gomez transcends these roles by vulnerablely sharing her mental health journey, reminding us that suffering is universal.” Ultimately, it is this kind of transparency and willingness to open up in such a public way that makes Gomez so deserving of an award like this. “While some of us meet the criteria for the clinical diagnosis and others don’t, to be human is to know what it’s like to experience pain, adversity, shame and fear,” Stanford continued. “And Gomez has chosen to use her platform to normalize the ups and downs that define the human experience.”