Demi Lovato to Raise Awareness About Mental Health Issues on Capitol Hill
Celebrity

The 'Cool for the Summer' songstress will meet legislators on behalf of the 'Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health' initiative at the National Council for Behavioral Health's Hill Day.

AceShowbiz - Demi Lovato is using her powerhouse voice to raise awareness about mental health issue on Capitol Hill. The 23-year-old singer, who has been open about her personal struggle with bipolar disorder, will meet legislators on behalf of the "Be Vocal: Speak Up for Mental Health" initiative at the National Council for Behavioral Health's Hill Day on Tuesday, October 6.

Demi tells PEOPLE, "I went through several years of pain and suffering, and I want to be able to help people and help try to prevent that suffering from happening." The "Cool for the Summer" songstress believes this country needs "comprehensive mental health reform," including better access to healthcare.

Demi hopes to destigmatize mental illness by sharing her story. "I think it's important that people no longer look at mental illness as something taboo to talk about," she explains, "It's something that's extremely common, one in five adults has a mental illness, so basically everyone is essentially connected to this problem and this epidemic."

The "Confident" singer adds, "The problem with mental illness is people don't look at it as a physical illness. When you think about it, the brain is actually the most complex organ in your body. We need to treat it like a physical illness and take it seriously."

Although Demi is dedicated to using her past struggles as a platform, she says she knows when to put her wellbeing first. "One thing that I've learned while dealing with this in the public eye has been that as rewarding as it is sharing my story and helping others, it's important to take care of myself as well," she shares. "I think that's been something that's really resonated with me over the past year. It's great to get outside of yourself and help others, but it's also important that I stay dedicated to my treatment plan and make sure that I can help myself before others."

The "Heart Attack" songstress then opens up about his late father who was bipolar-schizophrenic. "The estranged relationship that I had with my father really affected my life growing up, and it was because he was untreated," she explains. "He inspired my charity in order to help people live a happy life. Nobody deserves to suffer. But it was a very complicated situation, and that's why I decided to write about it. Hopefully people will be able to use that as inspiration and something that will help comfort them."

Demi plans to encourage people to spread the word in their communities, saying, "It could be as small as a hashtag or a tweet, it could be as big as joining us at Capitol Hill. Whatever you can do to help out is what I want you to take away from this. I think it's extremely important that we continue to raise the awareness and hopefully convince Congress to take more action."

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