Omagh man's journey to happiness inspired by mental health crusade
Omagh man Mark Quinn has compiled an international 'happiness scrapbook,' in a bid to raise mental health awareness.
Last updated 20th Jan 2018
The 23-year-old travelled across 20 states in America asking people what makes them happy and gathering their pictures and quotations online.
Mark said he was inspired to start the project after noticing a change in his own wellbeing:
"I was noticing a particular focus on mental health.
"It's one of them things that can't be talked about enough nowadays.
"And I was noticing, maybe for myself and my own wellbeing, not feeling as confident as I used to in my youth.
"It's something that is at the forefront of people's minds now but hasn't been for so long.
"People are only gradually coming round to accepting mental health as being as important as a physical ailment.
"It's taken a long time to get there, my generation especially, it's so vitally important to them."
Mark, who works in digital marketing, said he met some exceptional characters on his travels:
"In America I met a lady who's known as 'The Dance Lady of New Orleans.'
"She's got this organisation called Dance For Peace.
"You can't miss her...she'll appear out of nowhere, she's so vibrant and colourful, she designs all her own clothes.
"Her answer was huge but the gist of what she said was that dancing made her happy, seeing the joy that dance brought to people.
"She literally just wore a feather boa, danced around the streets of New Orleans.
"Danced for peace, that's what she's all about, that's what made her happy."
Mark said he also got some extraordinary answers from people on his journey:
"The answers I was getting across America were, you know family, friends, etc but this man I met in Santa Fe, he was so content.
"He said he had struggled a lot in his life but what he had to say was he had to take a step back and make himself happy, be happy with himself as he was.
"That really made me think."
Mark tested the concept on the Northern Ireland public, before deciding to continue the project on the other side of the Atlantic.
"I started the happiness scrapbook up in June, I was already travelling to America but I thought do you know what, this is doing well here, I'll bring it with me," he said.
"It went incredibly well, I spent nine weeks travelling, I went from east coast to west coast and then worked my way back again.
"I got people from New Orleans, Texas, New York, Washington DC, all over America."
Mark said the project has helped his own mental health and reminded him what is important in life as well as bringing joy to others:
"It started just primarily as a social media campaign so on facebook and instagram.
"It's just literally as simple as images of people online, their quote explaining what makes them happy.
"Just to provide a little bit of happiness and joy in people's lives."
