Jennifer Barry is best known for her role as Siobhán Walsh in The Young Offenders. The 19-year-old actress lives in Kilbrittain and has been involved in amateur dramatics since she was a little girl.Aged 16, she began working on sitcom. To the outside world, her life seemed perfect. But Jennifer was battling with depression.She said: “People created in their heads a perfect life for me. But, that’s not the case. I have a brilliant life and I am very happy now but, last year, it didn’t feel like the perfect life. It was a really horrible way of living. It got so bad that I didn’t want to live.”Last year, Jennifer’s mental health started to deteriorate. She started to lose weight. She didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning and stopped going to school for a while.“It got to the point where I needed serious help. It was a proper illness.”Without getting help, she says, she “wouldn’t have survived”.She knew something wasn’t right because she had a panic attack at school. She also didn’t want to celebrate her 18th birthday and had no interest in marking this milestone with friends and family. After having a panic attack at school, her parents helped her find a counsellor to talk to.“I didn’t take notice of the early signs. My advice to young people is that as soon as you notice that something isn’t quite right, get it checked.”She started taking medication, as well as attending psychotherapy sessions. She also found that talking to others really helped in her recovery, as well as exercising regularly and eating a well-balanced diet and getting enough sleep.As a result of her experiences, Jennifer is keen to become an advocate for mental health, in particular the mental health and wellbeing of teens.This month she started a blog, called ‘Jen B’s Journey’, dealing with mental health and self-care topics — with plans for a podcast in future. As well as that, she is taking part in Teen Talk; Gen Z.Cork County Council’s TeenTalks was designed to support teenagers with their Health & Wellbeing, particularly Mental Health.TeenTalks are organised by Cork County Council and funded by Healthy Ireland through the Council’s three Local Community Development Committees. The speakers in the on-line seminars will include;· Grace O’Rourke (Special Forces Hell Week Winner), · Gerry Hussey (Performance Psychology Consultant & Motivational Speaker) · Pat Divilly (Fitness Expert & Entrepreneur) · Graham McCormack (Former MMA Athlete & Mindfulness Coach).· Elaine Crowley (TV Presenter, Virgin TV)· Jennifer Barry (Actress, The Young Offenders) Teenagers are invited to participate by submitting a question, to any or all of the speakers. [email protected] Please include “Teen Talks” in the subject line.