Arlo Parks
UNICEF UK High Profile Supporter
“The opportunity to collaborate with Elena, Lauren, and Sam – to learn from them, to pool experiences and create together has been amazing. With UNICEF, I hope to continue to shine a light on voices of young people because they are the future – we must hear them, we must nurture their imagination, we must advocate for their rights.”
In 2023, Arlo Parks spent time with three members of the UNICEF UK Youth Advisory Board – Elena, Lauren and Sam. Together they wrote, laughed and got to know each other. They worked together to write a poem on a subject which meant a lot to them all – Healing within mental health.
Elena, Lauren and Sam voiced a recording of the poem, and this very special piece was released in GUAP Magazine on World Mental Health Day 2023. Arlo also spoke to GUAP about her own journey, her recently released poetry book The Magic Border, and the importance of UNICEF’s work around mental health.
Whilst she was touring in Australia in 2022, Arlo got the chance to visit the UNICEF Australia office and meet with some of the Australian Young Ambassadors. They spoke about mental health, making an impact and having your voice heard.
Just a few days after performing at Glastonbury Festival in June 2022, Arlo visited Chestnut Grove Academy in Balham, a school which had recently achieved Gold status in the UNICEF UK Rights Respecting Schools Award programme. Arlo spoke with groups of students about their rights and how they feel supported and listened to at school. The students were delighted to meet Arlo and showcase drama and music performances.
It was a privilege to visit the Rights Respecting School and see the work that UNICEF UK do. I saw a lot of empowered kids which was really beautiful to see…at the core of it was that they feel empowered, feel like they can be themselves, that their differences are celebrated, that they are listened to, and that they can be encouraged to pursue a life and a way of living and a way of expressing themselves that feels good to them.
Arlo Parks, 2022
I have lost friends to mental illness and watched them drown in an inky pit of darkness. I have also seen friends blossom and navigate their way towards the light with professional help and a loving, attentive support system. A mind filled with shame cannot grow and that is why I believe that deconstructing stigma, making mental health support accessible and building structures to support people, in particular vulnerable and marginalized groups, is essential. Queerness in particular should not mean guilt, it should not mean other. We must check up on each other, stand up for each other and banish shame from our vocabulary.
Writing for the 2021 State of the World’s Children report, Arlo expressed her passion for mental health, and UNICEF’s work on children’s mental health and psychosocial programmes all over the world. Much of Arlo’s songwriting and poetry draws on these themes.
About Arlo
Arlo Parks is a BRIT Award and Mercury Award winning singer, songwriter and poet from London. In her world, words are as useful as photographs. Luscious, expressive vignettes pepper the poetic lyrics in her sweet, ruminative indie pop songs. She’s inspired by an eclectic mix of artists from Radiohead to Portishead, and Sufjan Stevens to Solange.
