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Life is precious for beauty queen Flora Neemia. A gruelling battle with mental illness lies behind the beautiful smile of the Miss United Continents NZ 2020 winner.

The 24-year-old has suffered from depression, anxiety and an eating disorder. “Regardless of whether you’re a pageant queen, an ambassador or a social media influencer, you still go through these battles behind closed doors, and silently,” she says.

It all started last November when Flora went through a break-up which caused her mental health to collapse. “I hit rock bottom, falling into really bad things, drugs, alcohol, suicide attempts, self-harming,” she says. Flora was pulled back from the darkness by a good friend who staged an intervention at a bible study group before taking her to the beach to talk. “We went to Mission Bay, and I broke down and let it all out,” Flora says. This served as the catalyst for a path to recovery, prompting her to seek help from counselling and mindfulness services.

Now Flora is learning to help others turn their lives around as she did through the NZ Certificate in Health and Wellbeing (Social and Community Services) with a strand in Mental Health and Addiction Support. “When I personally went through it myself, I knew I had to advocate and study in this field. I am healing, battling, still learning and conquering this journey of mental health.”

Proud of her Samoan, Niuean heritage, Flora is driven to help Pasifika and Māori people, “given we often don’t have these topics voiced in our communities. Let’s normalise talking about mental health within our own whare, our own magafaoa, and most of all our own matua.” It’s crucial to start supporting our people now to create a brighter and better future, she says. “Let’s lead them into pathways so they can help the next generations better themselves, and work on stopping the percentages of higher rates of suicide because of mental health issues and addictions.”

While Flora expects to finish her programme by August next year, she is already giving back to the community. She volunteers as a youth mobiliser for the Do Good, Feel Good team, a movement to improve health outcomes for Pacific young people in Mangere. She also backs the Ōtara Kai village, a resident-led initiative to change community mindsets and behaviours relating to food, health, and well-being. “I’ve always wanted to give back to my people, our families and communities and this is my way of doing that. I am helping people with their journeys of mental health through my voluntary work, the community and other commitments.”

Flora believes people need to be able to voice their struggles without being judged or called names. “Behind every beautiful smile there’s a story of a more beautiful person who’s surviving each day. Let’s break the stereotypes about us being labelled weak or sick when we bring up this hidden topic, mental health.”