Inez Murray spoke to Belfast Live just weeks before the world's largest gathering of young leaders takes place in the city
More than 2,000 delegates from over 190 countries and 250 organisations will descend on Belfast for four days next month to confront the biggest challenges facing humanity and accelerate social impact.
Inez is Chair of the Board of Directors for Crisis Café NI, a youth-led organisation offering clinical mental health support in a non-clinical setting. The aim was to create a space for young people to connect, and access counselling in an informal environment if they needed it. "The need for this service was high especially opening after lockdown when young people felt so isolated and the services weren't there as speaking to someone over the phone is not the same as in person."
"When I talk about young people struggling during lockdown, I was one of those people who felt isolated. In January every year we have these toxic stereotypes that we need to change ourselves and become better and as a young girl, I felt that was so damaging and untrue at that time in my life," she explained.
Past summits have featured a line-up of influential political, business and humanitarian leaders including Justin Trudeau, Kofi Annan, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Emma Watson.
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