A PEMBROKESHIRE mental healthcare campaigner has spoken openly about her struggle with an eating disorder as part of an ITV Wales documentary.

Mair Elliott, of Haverfordwest, has taken part in ITV Wales’s Anorexia and Me, sharing her experience of living with the illness in the hope that she might be able to help others.

Mair, 20, regularly speaks in public about living with autism and serious mental illness, and charts her thoughts, feelings and honest observations about anorexia, anxiety, and depression through a blog and her Facebook page.

Working with ITV was another way for Mair to raise awareness: “I already do quite a lot of public speaking around mental health services, and on social media I am very open about my own struggles, so it is part of that really,” she said.

Mair believes everyone should be open about their mental health, and hopes that her work will help to encourage this societal change.

“It’s incredibly important that people start being open about these things. We don’t hide having a cold or the flu, so why do people with mental illness feel so ashamed about being ill?”

Speaking about her own journey has led others to be open with Mair about their own mental illnesses.

“It’s incredibly rewarding,” she said. “People say if I am open they will be open with me. Someone can then tell their story because I was open about my story.”

Mair won a St David's award for citizenship earlier this year.

Earlier this year, Mair was the winner of the Welsh Government’s St David’s award for citizenship for her work as a public speaker and campaigner for better mental health services.

She believes that mental health services are currently not adequate, and would benefit from increased funding.

“It is still drastically underfunded despite what political rhetoric is saying,” said Mair.

“We need to get it to a level where it is on par with general physical health services. If you turn up with a life threatening illness on A&E you will get help immediately.

“If you go to A&E with a serious mental illness you won’t. I think there is a way to go,” she added.

ITV Wales’ documentary Anorexia and Me met with four young people across Wales to talk about their experience of the eating disorder.

The programme can be found at the ITV Website.

Follow Mair Elliott’s campaign work via her Facebook page.