Within My SelfSupport for Children and Youth in Mental Health FacilitiesThe idea of establishing Within My Self began seven years ago when the creative spirit behind the organization, me - Irit, experienced first-hand the challenges faced by parents and families of children hospitalized in a mental health facility. One daughter was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward of a hospital, while at the same time another daughter was fighting cancer in another hospital.Unlike illness with external symptoms, or disabilities, mental health issues are not overtly identifiable. They don’t photograph well. They don’t photograph at all. My self together with the family benefitted from amazing support for my daughter suffering from cancer, the polar opposite of what I experienced with MY daughter hospitalized for mental health issues.Children in mental health facilities, whether long-term or short-term, do not receive visits from celebrities, or financial support for events from not-for-profits. Families of mental health sufferers are torn between visiting their children in care facilities and between those children left at home. They rarely ask for the support of their extended families or friends and do not turn to their local social service departments because of the shame associated with psychiatric hospitalization.The organization Within My Self seeks to support children, youth, and their families and to raise awareness, and offer assistance to manage the difficulties while fighting the prejudices regarding mental illness entrenched in society.